


Yours

by xxdrarryrebellexx



Series: Their Family [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Drarry, F/M, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Fluff, Good Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter Next Generation, How Do I Tag, I LOVE DRARRY OKAY, M/M, Made For Each Other, Mpreg, Mpreg Harry, Professor Draco Malfoy, Professor Harry Potter, Ravenclaw Scorpius Malfoy, Scorpius is still cute AF, Self-Indulgent, Their Family - Freeform, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, it's not super pregnancy dependent but...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-02-05 23:13:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 43,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12804465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxdrarryrebellexx/pseuds/xxdrarryrebellexx
Summary: | Sequel To Mine | Their Family book 2 |Marriage wasn't all domestic bliss and barefoot pregnancies. Well at least that's not how it started out for the Malfoy-Potters and if they were being honest with each other they expected no less, especially now that Draco had a permanent job as a Professor at Hogwarts alongside Harry."I told you I wouldn't know what would happen with this bond. So who's fault is it really?"Harry stared at Draco with narrowed eyes and both hands on his hips."Yours."





	1. -uno-

Harry Potter had been through a lot. When he was a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry it was something different every year. Now that he was a teacher he didn't know why he would have thought it would be any different.

The first month of the new term and both he and Draco had had enough.

They had barely been married a year and with that type of domestic... _bliss_? Harry fought to find a better word. It wasn't bad of course, but it was difficult. He scoffed to himself. What part of being married to Draco Malfoy ever sounded blissful?

The blonde had just been grating on his nerves as of late. Even with the simplest things. He didn't know what it was, but he had just felt so...uneasy lately. He had been sick for almost two weeks, unsurprisingly, now that he saw almost his entire group of third years were going through a bit of a stomach bug epidemic.

He flopped down in the chair behind his desk before letting his head thump to his desk. The door slammed open moments later.

"Pops, I was talking to Father and he thinks-"

Harry's head popped up only to be covered in sticky notes and paperclips.

"Since when did you start calling him Father?" Harry asked a shockingly tall Teddy. The boy had shot up in the last 6 months and Harry shook his head at him while peeling notes from his face. He made sure to stick the grocery list off to the side where he would remember it.

 

"Since Daddy started sounding too childish... Anyway, Father says that I can go as long as you say it's alright."

 

"Where are you going exactly?"

 

"It's a class trip for history of magic, remember? We spend a week camping like you did during the war."

The ravenette shook his head with a small grin before looking towards his desk and getting started on grading a few papers.

"Yeah, sure. I don't see why not."

 

"Thanks, Pa," Teddy said as his hair shivered through each color of the rainbow in his excitement. When he didn't make any move to leave Harry looked up again.

 

"Am I missing something, Ted?"

 

"Family dinner tonight. We're eating in father's office tonight."

 

"So why didn't you ask me once we got there?" The older man pulled down his glasses a bit before narrowing his eyes at the fidgeting 16 year old in from of him.

 

"Well..."

 

"Draco said no."

 

"He said that he didn't believe you'd done it so he most certainly will not let me do it unless you agreed."

 

"He didn't believe I'd-" Harry gaped before standing up and grabbing his robes from the back of his chair as they marched to Draco's class. "What, he think I redid my seventh year for bloody kicks or something?"

He pushed the door to the potions class open angrily, just as the tutoring session was being concluded. He looked to his husband who had been given the full time position after not only having his students get higher marks than with their previous potion instructor, but also publishing the third and fourth book on Harry's life.

"You don't think I did what!?" snapped Harry once the students had left. Teddy had hurried into the office where Scorpius was already seated on the comfortable slytherin green loveseat.

 

"I doubt you camped out for horcruxes our seventh year," Draco responded nonchalantly, not missing a beat. He began walking around the class checking to make sure everything was off and clean. As he walked he spoke. "I also doubt Weasley defeated a horcrux by himself. We had to teach him how to potty train Hugo and he already had a child before that!"

 

"Hugo  _was_ toilet trained. He just preferred...not using the toilet."

Draco looked at him as though to say that  _that_ proved his point before continuing to clean up.

"That's my boyfriend, you know," said Scorpius from the other room.

 

"Trying not to think about it," mumbled the oldest blonde while rubbing his temples.

Harry meanwhile was confused and still plenty angry.

"So what did you think I dropped out and took up scavenger hunting in my free time?"

 

"I don't know what the bloody hell you were doing, but I know you well enough to know you wouldn't have been out camping."

 

"They dragged us to the manor! You think they caught us shacked up in some nice cabin?"

They walked into the office and each of them took a few deep breaths. Draco spoke first. His voice was calm.

"So you've already told him he could go then?"

 

"Yeah, I don't see why he can't. It's a class trip."

 

"Okay then. Who wants dinner?" asked the paler haired man as he sat down at the newly transfigured table.

Scorpius set his book down before both he and Teddy focused their magic and transfigured their own chairs for the table. It was a new tradition they had started since the beginning of the new term. The boys were old enough to start doing things for themselves and they had each been in Hogwarts long enough to know and master basic transfiguration.

It wasn't as though they were changing pets into goblets. They were merely changing the type of chair to better fit the table.

A house elf popped in not to soon afterwards to serve dinner.

"So- uh- Dad...do you think I could maybe borrow the flying bike next hogsmeade weekend," asked Teddy picking at his green beans.

 

"Yeah, the pedal bike," snorted Scorpius. "You crashed the motorcycle last time. They barely still trust you with your broom off the quidditch pitch. Why in a million years would they let you driv-" He looked up to find both of his fathers looking at him and blushed. "Sorry."

Harry laughed.

"Nothing to apologize for, Scorp," he said chuckling.

"You are right, after all," added Draco with a smirk before spearing a bean and biting the end off.

 

"But dad-" Teddy insisted.

 

"No  _but_ s, Theodore," snapped Harry. "You crashed it into someone's home. They couldn't just fix that with magic! But what do you care, right? It was an ' _accident'._ You were ' _just having fun_ '. I didn't realize it was fun to destroy something that someone else has worked so hard for."

 

"It  _was_  an accident!" insisted the teen as his hair turned a deep rainy-bluish gray hue that was so much farther from the light blue or teal he was known to wear frequently.

 

"Teddy," said Draco calmly and Harry had to look at his husband thankfully. The blonde git was always the calm one, especially recently. "The point isn't whether or not it was an accident, but the fact that you weren't concerned about the person's house or the motorbike once you brought it back home. You know what that shows us? You don't care about other people's property so no, you can not have the bike for the next Hogsmeade trip."

Draco looked up from his plate and directly into his adopted son's eyes.

"Is that fair?" he asked, but from the way the blonde was looking at the young Hufflepuff there was only one right answer.

 

"Yes. That's fair," grumbled Teddy in resignation.

 

"So..." started Scorpius before recalling his class highlights for the day. It started with being early for Herbology and ended somewhere around getting the highest marks on his Charms essay.

 

The two men looked at each other briefly with small grins.

These were  _their_  boys and it was hard not to be happy about it.


	2. -dos-

Family dinner was going about as well as Draco expected after both he and Harry had denied Teddy. It wasn't as though this hadn't happened before, but Teddy wasn't his. Not really. So Draco was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. He tried to stay calm when talking to the teen, because he never knew when the blue haired boy would finally get tired of him...when Harry would finally get tired of  _him_.

Harry ran headfirst into danger, no matter the consequences. It was why he never would have made it as an auror, the blonde thought to himself as he watched his husband and his son discuss the ins and out of muggle sports which Harry, admittedly, didn't know much about.

The group hadn't realized how late it had gotten during their meal. After dinner, both Harry and Draco walked their boys back to their common rooms before making the trek back towards their own rooms in the teacher's quarters.

The next morning was when they realized something was up. Harry had been sick for the last week or so. Every morning and sometimes late into the afternoons. For the most part he was able to keep it from his husband, who's first class started a bit later. They met at breakfast and Harry could usually just grin and bear it, but not today.

"Potter! Get your hot arse back in the bed," snapped Draco as he reached his hand across the bed to feel that although the sheets were still warm they were, in fact, absent of one tall messy haired prat.

Harry was going to respond. He had already thought up something about being glad that Draco knew his ass was in fact hot, but at the moment he had his head hung over the toilet adjoined to their room as he chucked up whatever was left of dinner last night. The sound of him sicking up is what brought the blonde rushing into the bathroom wearing only his underpants one of Harry's too big tees.

"How long has this been going on?"

 

"A little over a week, I guess," said the messy haired man sitting back against the wall after flushing the toilet.

 

"And you didn't think it was something you should tell me?" Draco was standing by the sink, looking through the medicine cabinet before pulling out a pepper up and handing to his sick husband.

 

"'Cause it's not bad until I'm still. When I'm sleep it gets worse." Harry downed the potion in one go and then waited for it to settle in his stomach before exhaling in relief.

 

"What gets worse?"

 

"I think I caught some type of stomach bug. It just gets worse when I stay stationary for too long. It's like I can feel my stomach wrestling to keep my food down."

Draco paused.

"Have you- uh- have you been to see Poppy?"

 

"No, it isn't that serious. Plus Madam Pomfrey has to focus on the students. Not to mention, I've been to the hospital wing enough to last three lifetimes. I'm in no hurry to go back."

 

"But, Harry, what if- I just mean to say, what if it is  _that serious_?" He pleaded.

 

"Then I would need to be in St. Mungos and I would much rather just deal with it by myself. I'm sure they have more important cases to take care of then whatever stomach thing I have going on," Harry responded pushing himself off the floor and moving to the sink to brush his teeth and get the combined vile taste of vomit and pepper-up from his tongue.

 

"Yeah, okay," the paler man agreed quietly. "Just promise me you'll go see Pomfrey sometime today. Just to see what's going on... A routine check up." Draco was watching the green eyed man in front of him carefully. Other than an exasperated eye roll, he didn't look too annoyed. He decided that meant that the Gryffindor git would have sucked up his pride or whatever stopped him from taking care of himself and headed to the infirmary at some point.

 

"Will that make you happy?" Harry asked looking at the blonde in the mirror, after he spit into the sink.

 

"Thrilled."

 

"Fine. I'll go after my first class. I have a free period, Scorp and I have been reorganizing my bookshelves."

 

"Oh," gasped Draco with false excitement. "You two are such a riot, I swear to Merlin you may have to give yourself a detention."

 

"Ha ha, Malfoy, very funny." Harry said as he turned around and wrapped his arms around his husband's neck. Draco placed his hands on the slightly shorter man's waist then leaned in and placed a kiss on his nose. When he leaned back again Harry was looking up into his eyes, forcing him to stare into those endless fields of green. "And relax. I can feel how worried you are through the bond. Nothing's wrong. I would know that much."

 

"If that's what you believe," shrugged the blonde. At the look on the other man's face he smiled small. "You know I would do anything for you, love. I just don't want you to be sick.  I want to know that everything is okay. That we're okay."

 

"Yeah, of course we're o- Did you think we weren't? Why- what would make you think that?"

 

"It's just we've been arguing a lot lately, over the simplest things. I don't want you to think we rushed into this or we made some spur of the moment decision or-"

 

"I just- I don't know. I feel like I should apologize. I have been a bit harder to get along with, but seriously, Dray, I've known you for almost 20 years and loved you for more than half of them. I promise, I don't think we could  _rush_ into anything." He succeeded in making the blonde laugh before placing another kiss, this time on his lips then they untangled themselves from each other and got to work getting ready for the rest of their day.

Normally the first step was to shower if they weren't in a hurry, and usually together if they were both up at the same time. Today was no different. Harry stepped in after Draco and wrapped his arms around the blonde's waist from behind. After a few moments the taller man turned in his grasp and pulled him back into the spray of the water with him then placed a light kiss on his forehead. They felt each other's hearts beat as the water beat down on them. He reached over and grabbed the shampoo before lathering up the soft, messy, ebony locks, bending his head down afterwards so that Harry could do the same. They took turns washing each other up and rinsing off, before they literally could not waste any more time.

Once they had stepped out, left the bathroom and finished dressing in a comfortable kind of silence Draco spoke up.

"So...I'll see you at lunch?" He asked before swishing his wand, causing his shoes to tie themselves while he fixed his robes. Harry stood half-in half-out of the door to their room. The chill of the corridor made it seem almost too easy in the way it slipped into their room. Harry shrugged one of his shoulders in an attempt to fix his own dress robes before Draco marched over and did it himself. Harry smiled goofily at him

 

"Yeah, I'll see you at lunch. Maybe before that if this check up thing with Pomfrey goes sideways..."

 

"You're the Boy Who Lived, remember?" teased Draco as he pecked Harry's lips and ran his fingers through the messy locks in yet another failed attempt to tame it. "You'll be fine."


	3. -tres-

"I'm fine. Why did I even agree to this?" Harry whined to himself as he paced back and forth in the corridor just in front of the infirmary. He groaned as he placed a hand on his constantly tumbling abdomen. What he hadn't told his husband was that it felt like his insides are trying to claw their way out. All day he had to sit back and ignore the shifting feeling that woke him in the mornings. He took a deep breath and walked into the hospital wing with a smile.

 

"Professor Potter," said Madam Pomfrey as she bustled about the room helping a few of his third years who had been sick previously. He smiled at her.

 

"Hey, Poppy."

 

"If this is a social visit, I am sorry to say I don't have the time, Professor."

 

"Actually I'm here for a check-up. I think I may have what they have," he said shrugging and motioning towards the kids. "I've been feeling sick for more than a week."

She stood up straighter from where she was handing a young girl a vial of a potion Harry couldn't name. She looked at him with narrowed eyes as if taking him in for the first time since he entered the room.

"Go over there," Pomfrey said motioning to a bed at the back of the room. "Sit. Stay."

 

"Thanks, Poppy," he said with a smile. He grabbed his stomach, but made it seem like he was just smoothing his robes out and sat on the bed furthest away from his students.

As he continued to sit his stomach started to churn again. He amounted it to nerves and shook his head before accio-ing an empty bucket to the side of the bed and upended whatever was left after the eggs and toast he forced himself to eat during breakfast. He spit into the bucket again then sat up again, wiping his mouth with the loose sleeve of his robe. Pomfrey was at his side in seconds. She was waving her wand over him in loose moments before flicking upwards sharply.

 

"How long did you say you've been feeling this way?" she asked calmly as she looked at the different colors that stood for different diagnosis laid across his body before she was able to look into his eyes.

 

"About two weeks now..."

 

"Okay." She nodded as she traced a direct line of magic from the middle of his forehead to his heart. "Any pain in your abdomen?"

 

"It isn't really tha-"

 

"Yes or no, Mister Potter."

 

"Yes, but I don't thin-"

 

"How long have you been feeling this pain?"

 

"Maybe a month," he inquired. "Two months..?"

She looked at him as if he had been doing something completely freakish.

"And you haven't come to see me before n-" she shook her head and swished her wand again, stopping the light show that had appeared to float just above Harry as he continued to sit on the edge of the bed, clutching his stomach a bit now. She narrowed her eyes at him as she stepped back. "When was the last time you were sexually active, Mister Potter?"

 

"Uh- I'm not- Poppy, is that appropriate?" He looked around her at the beds that held children before, but were now still and empty.

 

"You said you thought you had what they had," she said motioning behind her to the empty beds. "They were having after effects from an updated Weasley formula. George is nice enough to send over antidotes to everything he sells. Which leads me to you.

 

"I- I don't understand."

 

"You couldn't catch something that isn't contagious, Professor. Now if you wouldn't mind answering the question. When was the last time you were sexually active?"

 

"Maybe three months ago. I haven't been feeling well so-"

 

"There's your answer then. Bonds works differently for everyone and coverage of your ceremony says you and Professor Malfoy may have the first perfect bond in a century."

 

"I'm sorry, I don't understand. What does our bond have to do with anything?"

 

"Well haven't you figured it out?" When he shook his head she looked at him in awe. "How in Merlin's name did you become a Professor, Mister Potter? Your bond is what made this possible in the first place."

 

"Made  _what_ possible?"

 

"The pregnancy. You're pregnant, Mister Potter. The pain in your abdomen was your organs making space for your womb to form. The sickness is a sign that your womb is settling. I'm surprised you haven't come to see me sooner." She looked at him pointedly as if she was disappointed, but not surprised by his actions. "From what I know, the pain from your organs shifting should be unbearable and you've been working like nothing has changed. I can't even imagine to know what you're going through Mister Potter, but I can give you a few potions to relieve the pain. Anymore than that you will have to go to St. Mungos."

 

"I would rather it wouldn't have to come to that..." he said as he scratched awkwardly at his neck while looking away from her. He had heard the rumors about wizard pregnancies, but he hadn't thought they were a real possibility. Sure, Draco talked about it sometimes and they had agreed that if it happened it would be fine. Now that it  _had_ happened, Harry was unsure if he was  _actually_ fine.

 

"Regardless of what you would 'rather' the world come to, Mister Potter, this is what has to happen. I am not in the position to be able to provide the proper prenatal care you need this early on. You will have to see them for an initial check up in order to get the vitamins and other nutritional potions that you will need." Pomfrey looked him over before smiling small before shaking her head to herself. "I'll let St. Mungos know to send someone over and keep it discreet for now."

A small grateful smile tore its way across Harry's face as Madam Pomfrey helped him off of the bed and patted him on the shoulder before leading him to the door.

"Thank you, Poppy."

 

"It's the least I could do. Now go, you have classes to teach, if I'm not mistaken."

Harry smiled at her again and turned before heading back to the teachers quarters. He had a mouthful for his husband. He pushed the door open to find Draco inside pacing back and forth and murmuring to himself.

"We always talk about contraceptive potions and spells and the one time you decide not use them- I can't believe you would even-" Harry started

 

"Wait," said the blonde who's head had snapped up when the door opened. "Y-you're p-"

 

"Pregnant?" the ravenette said staring into the other man's face. Although he was angry he couldn't help but let a small, wet, lopsided grin spread onto his face. "Yes."

 

"Oh, Harry," The smile that broke out across Draco's face was blinding. "I can't beli-"

 

"It's all your fault! You bloody-"

 

"My fault?! You're blaming this on me?"

 

"Of course I am! Draco, I didn't even understand what bonds were really until we were together. You've been married before-"

 

"Astoria and I didn't have a perfect bond! Not to mention she was female. She was supposed to be able to bear children. It takes more work for male wizards. Sure we had a perfect bond but-"

 

"But?! There is no  _but-_ , right now."

 

"Harry, we've talked about this before." Draco was facing him with his arms crossed now and he looked positively annoyed. Harry was sure the look was mirrored on his own face.

 

"Yeah, theoretically! How was I supposed to know you were being serious?"

 

"I told you I wouldn't know what would happen with this bond. So who's fault is it really?"

Harry stared at Draco with narrowed eyes and both hands on his hips.

 

"Yours."

Draco took a deep breath then rolled his eyes while speaking, before walking over to a still angry Harry and wrapping his arms around his husband. "Well of course you would see it that way, love." He forced the ravenette into a hug until the slightly shorter man couldn't do anything but melt into the hug as well.

"You're such a prat," Harry spoke thickly into his shirt as tears fell from his eyes and onto his husband's clothes.

 

"I love you too."


	4. -cuatro-

Three days after hearing the impossible news, Harry went back to work.

He had taken a day to get acclimated. Another to meet with a healer from St. Mungos. A third to get acclimated with the news again.

The hardest part of teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry thought as he comfortably moved about the classroom, was being pregnant during early term exams. It wasn't because he had started showing yet. Luckily that was at least a few weeks away. The current problem was that now that he knew what was going on with his body he couldn't just ignore it and hope it went away.

Unlike with the stomach flu, where he could just take it easy and eat soup during lunch and push himself harder during class time, he actually had to be careful of how hard he was pushing himself.

When the second years came in he was sitting on top of his desk flipping through a stack of parchment. He had given an essay to all of his students. This is what he had gotten back so far. Harry shook his head and placed the stack beside him before smoking up at his class. Scorp sat in the front row and couldn't help but smile back up at his Papa.

"Okay, second years. I am glad to see you enjoyed your break in my absence, but now the real work has to begin." He looked around as he stood and started walking up and down the aisles between the seats moving some of them out of the way as he went. "Your Starting Term Practicals are on Tuesday! Today we're going to be going over some basic wand movements and dueling skills."

The class cheered and he shushed them with a wave of his hand. When young ravenclaw, Janice Harper, raised her hand he suppressed a smile and allowed her to speak.

"Uh- Professor, are we going to duel each other? What if-"

 

"All will be revealed momentarily, Janice." Harry sent the class a mischievous grin. "I have actually dragged along a few volunteers to help teach this particular lesson. Everyone please give a warm welcome to Auror Weasley and Professor Malfoy."

The class erupted into a series of mini cheers and whoops that caused Draco to preen and Ron to turn almost as red as his hair. Being used to this sort of environment, the blonde naturally began leading.

"We're going to do this out in the courtyard, where there'll be enough space for Weasley to hide," Draco said with a smirk.

 

"Oi, I'm the auror here, not you," Ron said standing taller as he followed Harry and Draco down the corridor with the kids charged after them.

 

"Not for my lack of trying, I assure you," Draco responded.

 

"Nobody would take him on," Harry told his friend with a playful smirk. "Not even the Unspeakables."

The redhead peered around his best friend. Taking in Malfoy's still proud walk then back at Harry.

 

"My form is perfect," muttered the blonde angrily.

 

"So why don't you duel'em, Harry?"

The dark haired man floundered for only a moment.

 

"Er- he knows my moves too well. He can always guess what I'm gonna do next. The kids can't learn that way."

 

"And it's no fun anymore," added Draco with what looked to be an actual pout. "You, on the other hand, Weasley, may actually be a challenge." He turned and grinned at the redhead once they reached the courtyard and waited for the class to finish joining them.

As Draco and Ron got into proper formation Harry explained each step. Then had the men run through it again so the kids could better grasp it in motion. Once they had run through it twice he decided he should probably lay out a few ground rules before he let them have at it.

"No spells or charms that are too dangerous! And nothing," he said staring pointedly at his husband. "That can leave permanent damage."

Draco rolled his eyes but agreed.

 

"Don't murder the weasel. Got it."

Ron also huffed a breath.

 

"Keep the maiming of ferret face to a minimum."

 

Once Harry was sure they both understood he threw a protective barrier up around the two and let the students watch the mock battle.

 

" _Expeliarmus_!" Ron started after he and Draco had circle each other a few times. The blonde easily blocked it before responding with a- " _Stupefy_!"

 

" _Protego_!" yelped the redhead, causing the blonde to quickly duck and roll in order to dodge the rebound. " _Locomotor Mortis_!"

 

" _Flipendo!_ " Draco called still crouching, then before Ron could think to move out of the way again: " _Confundus_!  _Levicorpus_!" in quick succession. The first spell hit, making it easier for the second to knock into the confused man right on the chest. He flipped over almost immediately as Draco held him dangling in the air for a few minutes while Harry explained why Draco's tactic worked and what Ron could have done to avoid it.

Once Harry asked (read forced) his husband to put down the auror-

 

"He can actually arrest you if you damage him on duty!" The messy haired man said tiredly as if he was used to this and the class supposed that maybe he was as they began to laugh even harder.

 

"And I would!" added in Ron as the blood continued to rush to his head.

 

"Fine," muttered Draco before dropping the man with a mumbled  _liberacorpus._ Ron flipped back over and tumbled before pushing himself back up and eyeing the blonde across from him.

 

"I'll get you next time, Malfoy. Just you wait 'til dinner on Saturday. House rules."

 

"Oh, bring it, Weasley. Loser has to volunteer to babysit Ministry Weasley's brats."

 

"Oh you're on! Lucy is teething."

As they continued to layer on the bet Harry turned back to his class.

"How about we all thank Professor Malfoy?" The class thanked him and Draco bowed elegantly once before walking towards the building. He kissed the ravenette on the cheek and went inside. The shorter man shook his head before speaking again. "When we get back inside, Auror Weasley is going to answer some of your practical defense questions. So...let's head on in, yeah?"

The class cheered and charged happily towards the buiding. Scorpius stayed back a moment.

"Hey d-dad..."

 

"Yeah, Scorp?"

 

"Er- well- uh- y-you see I wanted to know w-w-what you-"

 

"What's wrong, Scorp?"

 

"Noth-thing."

 

"Did you take your potions last night?"

 

"Yes, s-sir."

 

"So what's going on?" He waved Ron ahead and his friend nodded before gripping his shoulder and walking away.

 

"I'm not g-g-good at d-defens-sive spells," started the boy, fiddling with his wand and tapping it against his leg quickly. "W-what if I f-fail my p-practicals?"

 

"C'mon," Harry said throwing an arm over his son's shoulders. "Deep breaths, Scorp. We can practice all weekend if you want. Plus we're going to the Burrow this weekend so you can practice with them too. I promise."

 

"Y-you-" the boy took a deep breath and tried again. "You're sure?"

 

"Absolutely."


	5. -cinco-

"Teddy you can't scare me anymore!" Scorpius called into the room before slowly stepping in and flipping the light switch.

Contrary to prior belief, his brother was lounged on the chair in Harry's office with his thinking face on.

"Hey, Scor, have you-"

 

"Nope," the young ravenclaw said while shaking his head. "I know that face. That's the face that got me grounded for 2 weeks just before term started."

 

"It's not an idea this time!" defended Teddy. "Just- You've noticed that our 'parental figures'," he said using air quotes. "They're- well, they're acting weird."

Scorpius shrugged as he walked over to his Dad's bookshelf and began rummaging through his collection of defense books.

"They always act weird," Scorpius said nonchalantly. "They're parents, I think it's a part of their job or something."

 

"No, it's a different weird, Teddy insisited. "It's like- I don't know, like they're not telling us something..."

 

"What wouldn't they be telling us?"

 

"I mean, Pops has been sick right? What if it's something serious! He never passes up an opportunity to pass up dueling especially not against Dad, but he sat out every single duel for the last 2 days!"

 

"Maybe he's learning to be more cautious and not run head first into danger."

Teddy snorted at that.

"You sound like Dad. And besides, I don't think Pops even knows how to avoid danger. It's against his genetics or something."

 

"Yeah," laughed Scorpius before imitating his father. " _Bloody Potter, always running head first into danger. Couldn't get him to look the other way if you pushed him in that direction_!"

 

"That was really good! You  _gotta_  do that in front of the fifth years, they're going to freak."

 

"Who's going to freak?" Harry said as he walked into the room and dropped his bag beside his desk after ruffling both boys' hair.He turned around and raised his eyebrows when neither of them responded.

 

"Er- the fifth years," Scorpius responded and Harry narrowed his eyes at his other son.

 

"What're you planning, Ted?"

 

"What?! I'm not- Scorp! Tell him I'm not planning anything."

 

"How would I know what you're thinking?" Scorpius said hiding a smirk behind the book he had plucked from the shelf,  _Defending Yourself From Yourself_. Teddy kicked at the younger boy's legs until his feet thudded from the floor with finality. The blonde turned to him and narrowed his eyes as well before talking.

 

"Scor-" Teddy said trying to redeem himself.

 

"Teddy thinks you're hiding something from us. You and Dad, he thinks something happened when you went to see Madam Pomfrey but you just don't want to tell us what it is."

The two boys were so busy having a glare off that they didn't notice the way Harry's mouth slammed shut or the way he had to swallow more than three times to get rid of the metaphorical lump in his throat. His stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch as if it's placement could be controlled merely by talking about it. He thought back to the pamphlets the healer gave him about whether that was really something that could happen, in which case he would sit and whisper sweet nothings to his organs all day long if it meant he would stop feeling like they were clawing their way out of him.

Presumably he stayed quiet for too long because both boys stopped their glaring to move over to him with worried faces and be chuckled because in that moment they looked like their father's.

There was Teddy who was tall for his age with his lips in a frown he wasn't sure what to do with.  
His hair was a mess and regardless how much the boy ate his sweaters hung off of him a bit too loosely at the shoulders. Harry blinked and he could have sworn it was Remus standing there.

He had to look away, but the youngest Malfoy-Potter was no better.

Scorpius had rushed over to help with his too wide eyes and his Draco's pouting mouth, only a few moments from being a scowl because  _'Merlin, Harry, just ask for help when you need it!'_ The boy looked as if he was going to whine at any moment and declare that his father had to hear about it and that thought almost made Harry laugh.

"Something did happen, didn't it?" asked Teddy though it sounded more like a reprimand than a question.

 

"It's nothing bad. I promise," the man insisted.

 

"Are y-you going to b-be okay?" asked Scorpius trying to control his breathing.

 

Harry nodded quickly to assure him. He had already lost his mother and Harry once before. The ravenette was trying to be sure that it wouldn't be more permanent this time.

"I'm going to be fine, Scorp. I promise."

The boy looked up at him with those huge silvery eyes and the fear in them almost brought Harry to tears.

 

"That's what m-mum said," he whispered. "I don't e-eve-" he took a breath. "I barel-ly remember w-w-what she looked like, b-but I remem-ember her telling me she was g-going to be f-fi-fine. I remember rea-realizi-zing she was lying. I'm n-not a kid anymo-more. Don't p-pat-patroni-nize me."

 

"Scorp, you need to calm down..." Teddy said placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm worried too, but remember what we've been working. Breathe through it. Count it out."

 

"I-I-I-" he stomped his foot in anger but took a deep breath anyway. "I am calm!"

The atmosphere around the Scorpius sizzled and the older boy had to snatch his hand away in order to keep his body in tact.

"Yeah," he said sarcastically. "Super calm. You're frikin' meditating right now, you're so calm. You should be a bloody monk!"

Harry thinks the next thing Scorpius said hurt the worst not because he said it in a fit of rage, but because he spoke so slowly that he had plenty of time to take it back but instead he turned and stormed out, excusing himself from Harry's office and Family Dinner.

"I wouldn't expect either of  _you_  to understand." His hands were fists at his sides, his nails biting into his palm. "You two never  _had_  parents so you're used to doing whatever the bloody hell you want and not thinking people care about you either way. I wasn't given that luxury.  _I_  know what it's like to have a parent and lose them. Actually I think I should get some studying done. Tell Father I said hello."

 

Before Harry couldn't even think to stand up and reprimand the boy he was in tears. Not the silent ones like when he stubbed his toes, but a deep raw sob. The type of cry he hadn't let himself have in years. It was a cry reminiscent of the war when he watched people he loved and cared about drop one by one without thinking twice about jumping in front of others to protect them.

 

Sirius just beyond his reach...

 

Remus jumping in the war to make a better world for his son...

 

Then with clarity he remembered the stifling heat and smog of the Room of Requirement as he back for Draco or even before that when he could clearly hear Draco's screams:

_"Don't kill him! DON'T KILL HIM!"_

 

Harry gasped as more tears made their way down his face. His throat felt ripped to shreds already, but he couldn't hear himself screaming.

Teddy looked terrified. He was standing beside Harry who had somehow made it to the floor in his fit of sobbing.

 

"Papa, please be okay. I'm going to get Dad okay? I'll be right back. Just be okay. Please," he said steeling himself up through the terror and rushing from the room to pull Draco from tutoring.


	6. -seis-

When Malfoy finally rushed into Harry's office he was an odd mix of angry and worried. Teddy came into the classroom like a ball of nerves. His hair was flashing between so many different colors Draco could barely keep up.

Harry was sitting behind his desk with his head in his hands taking deep shivering breaths.

"Potter?"

Harry looked up and wiped his face again.

"I don't think we're having family dinner tonight," he said in an attempt to get Draco's focus off of him. It didn't work. The blonde came around the desk and placed one hand on each side of his husband's face before tilting it up so that their eyes met.

 

"Are you alright?" he asked while grey searched green for distress. Harry placed his hands atop of Draco's before removing them altogether and kissing the knuckles on the blonde's hand and staring back up into his eyes.

 

"I'm fine." He shrugged. "But you do need to talk to Scorp."

 

"Scorp did this?  _Scorpius_  made you cry?"

Harry shook his head vehemently.

"Hormones."

 

"He's  _my_  son too, Potter, remember? I know better."

 

"It wasn't his fault. He's been stressed out and I think he's in a really sensitive place right now. He didn-"

 

"If you say he didn't mean it, I am going to hex you. You're not going to baby him, Potter. That's the problem. You don't want to hurt his feelings so you let him walk all over yours." Harry tried to respond in the negative, but Draco just shook his head. "When Astoria died, Scorp was almost three years old. I spoiled him for months after she died until I realized I wasn't making it better. I was doing the same thing my father did to me."

 

"What was that?"

 

"I was rewarding bad behavior or bribing him into doing things i wanted him to. That's not how you raise a child."

 

"Dray, he isn't-" the messy haired man sniffled and more tears fell from his face. "Scorp isn't mine, you know? I love him like he is, but he isn't. What if- what if I'm too hard on him and he just starts to hate me." He placed both hands on his now settling stomach and looked down at it lovingly. He wasn't showing yet, but he knew there was someone growing in there. "What if this one hates me too?"

 

"Har-"

 

"No, I know, I'm being ridiculous. I just- I've always wanted a family and now we have this one and I don't want to mess anything up..." He looked up into Draco's eyes. "I don't want anything to change."

The blonde placed his hands on top of his husband's yet again.

"This is a good change, Harry. We're going to get through it together. All of us." He moved his hands and his face took on an angry glint. " _After_  I have a little talk with  _our_  son."

 

"He didn't say anything that wasn't true. Plus, Teddy and I have gone through worse."

 

"He said something to Teddy too?"

 

"It was- er- well more of a double whammy..."

 

"What the bloody hell does that mean?"

 

"It's a muggle thing. It means he kind of hit us both at one time."

 

"Then I think he deserves a double whammy too. No more family dinner for him. Scorpius has now won himself free passes to  _Daddy_  Dinner."

 

"Do I even want to know what that means?"

 

"No, but know that it is public and humiliating and- did he forget Slytherins protect their own?"

Harry shook his head, but he knew better than to try and steer his husband off course once he got an idea in his head. He decided to try another direction.

 

"Do you think the crime really fits the punishment?"

 

"Depends on what he said that caused you to break down and Teddy to practically have a panic attack."

 

"It was a comment about our parents...or our lack of parents." Harry shrugged when Draco didn't immediately answer. "I told you it was just hormones."

 

"He said that to you and Ted?" asked Draco in his scarily quiet and calm voice. Harry nodded slowly.

 

"Yes..."

The blonde was out of the room in moments with the ravenette chasing behind him. They traveled through the castle looking much like they did in their school days. Harry chasing down an angry Malfoy who he was sure was up to something.

When they got to the dinning hall Draco didn't wait a tick as he transfigured his clothes into too-small Slytherin school robes and pushed the door open. He walked over to the Ravenclaw table and immediately sat next to Scorpius.

The smaller blonde stood prepared to leave, but his father grabbed the back of his robes until he was forced to sit down.

"Father," said the boy through gritted teeth.

 

"I don't know what's gotten into you, Hyperion, but this is how I'm going to find out." He smiled in a way that made even Scorp's friend, Nick, a third year twin, uncomfortable. "Welcome to Daddy Dinners. Me, you and the entire dinning hall. There is so much I don't know."

 

"You c-can't just-" Scorpius sputtered.

 

"I think you'll find that I don't really care what  _you_  think I  _can_  or  _can't_  do."

 

"Is this about the thing with Pa? I'll apologize. Just stop."

 

"That would be too easy, now wouldn't it, Scorpius?"

 

"I was just frustrated. I can apologize. Pa will forgive me." The more he spoke the more confident the smaller blonde became in his idea.

 

"Oh, Harry has already forgiven you."

 

"So what's this for then?"

 

"I haven't forgiven you."

 

"Dad, you weren't even there!"

 

"No, but you see," Draco motioned towards Harry standing uncomfortably by the door shifting from foot to foot as he awkwardly smiled and spoke with another teacher. Draco could never remember her name. "That man is  _mine_. And he has a problem with forgiving people too easily. You overstepped your bounds, Scorp. I raised you better than that and I can't just sit by while you go through whatever teenage rampage this is on your own."

Scorpius scoffed and Draco gripped his shoulder.

 

"Something funny, Hyperion?"

The boy gulped and shook his head.

"No, sir."

 

"I didn't think so." He let go of his son's shoulder and leaned closer. "Have you seen your brother, by any chance?"

 

"N-no..."

 

"And who's fault do you think that is?" The older Slytherin stood from the Ravenclaw table and stretched. "That boy has been there for you more times than I can remember just this year alone, and you practically spit in his face."

Without another word he turned and walked from the room with Harry in tow. Scorpius sat sulking at the table.

The boy in question knew he shouldn't have said what he did to his Pa and to Teddy he had just gotten so... _angry_. He looked around the room, but he couldn't see his brother anywhere. He stood up from the table.

"Uhm...I'll catch up with you later, Nick." The other boy now enraptured in a book just nodded and made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat.

 

Scorpius was on a mission.


	7. -siete-

Teddy was rushing down the hall, towards the Hufflepuff common room. Dad had said everything would be fine. He just needed to calm down. He stepped towards the entrance of the common room and tapped against the barrel. When the door finally opened he almost tripped trying to speed his way into the space. His slight trip didn't go unnoticed.

"Where ya been, Ted?" asked Julia, a first year. She was a small, bubbly elfish girl with huge brown eyes, short wavy brown hair and a scar running from one cheek to the other just across her nose. Her bangs fell loosely across her forehead and she stared up at him with concern. Both of her parents had been Slytherins. Her father had been killed a month before school started.

 

"Uh..." Teddy responded eloquently as he tried to calm his mind and place the things he knew about her in a kind of mental folder. It was harder for him to focus when he was upset. His mind would still be speeding along, but everything else just moved too slow!

 

"Teddy? Are you okay?" asked Julia. He noticed they were the only two in the common room. He nodded to himself. Everyone was probably at dinner or in bed early.

 

"Yeah. I'm fine, Julia." He smiled at her and she narrowed her eyes at him in a way that said she didn't believe any of it.

 

"So why is everything moving so fast?"

 

"Why is- what are you talking about?"

She narrowed her glazed over eyes at him and he was struck almost immediately with the fact that Julia was blind.  _His aura_ , he realized. His entire being was so upset that even his aura was rushing to just hide away and cry.

"So...are you going to tell me what's going on?" She tilted her head to one side, listening for a response.

 

"It's just some family stuff," he said at last. "Nothing major. My parents and- my brother..." He scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he felt the stray tear finally fall.  _Great_ , he thought to himself. He had been keeping all the anger and fear trapped inside and now it was going to come bursting out in the common room. He spared a look at Julia who gave him a soft smile that reminded him creepily of his Aunt Luna.

 

"Sometimes it's better to cry when no one can see you, right?" She took a few tentative steps forward until her nose practically touched the middle of his chest and she pulled him into a hug before leading him to one of the corner cushions in the room. Beside the chair was a small table full of pastries and he exhaled shakily. "I do have a question," she said sounding a lot more like the 11 year old she was.

 

"Shoot," Teddy responded somewhat quietly sitting back and pulling a plate of ginger biscuits into his lap.

 

"I...well I thought you're parents were dead. It's just- well my grandma told me before school started. She told me about anybody she knew. She said she used to know your mum..."

Teddy nodded slowly. He wasn't sure how Julia interpreted her surroundings. Maybe she actually could see him nodding.

"No, yeah. You're right. My biological parents  _are_ dead. I still have- uh had- my mum's mum. My Gam helped raise me before. But my godfather and his husband adopted me. It's kind of a long story."

 

"Oh, that was nice of them. How do they feel about you being away to school?"

 

"I wouldn't know. They're professors here. You seriously didn't know that?"

 

"First years aren't given info-packets on familial connections in Hogwarts, you know." Her sarcasm was refreshing and Teddy couldn't help but laugh.

 

"I suppose you're right. Not to mention the name thing is too complicated, but they said it would make things easier." He shook his head. "It doesn't help. Professor Potter and Malfoy are my adoptive parents."

 

"Those two goofs?" she laughed and did a rooting gesture with her hands. "Some of the first years were betting to see when they would come out of the closet or admit they were in love with each other. I tried to tell them it was obvious with the news and-"

 

"That betting pool is a year or so too late," Teddy snorted. She lightly shoved his shoulder.

 

"Shush. They don't know that."

 

"We're alone!" He was really laughing now and she smiled softly. He ran over what she said again and stopped. "What news?"

 

"Professor Potter is pregnant," she said shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal. "If I wasn't already blind the glow coming off of his double aura would have done it. Tell him congratulations."

 

"Julia-"

 

"Call me Jules." He nodded at her still trying to speak.

 

"Yeah, sure. Jules, who else knows that my dad's uh- that he's uh-"

 

"Pregnant?" she shook her head. "It doesn't seem like any of the students or the teachers know. I think Madam Pomfrey might only because his glow is so bright so he has to be on vitamins, you know?"

Teddy nodded, but stood.

"Thank you for talking to me, Jules."

 

"You're the cool one," she said jokingly. "Thank you. I'm glad I could make you feel better, though."

 

"Yeah, I am too." He rubbed her hair in a brotherly manner before kissing her on the forehead. "See ya, Jules." She laughed as he sped out of the common room. She felt the floor vibrate gently as he tripped yet again.

 

"Later, Ted."

Just as he ran out of the common room he was knocked back by a slightly smaller and thinner body. He looked down into red-rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks. Scorpius was sniffling and scuffing his foot against the floor between them as he stepped back and regained his balance.

"I-I-I'm sorry for y-yelling at you earlier. I was angry a-and scared and fr-frustr-strated and I-" he took a deep breath. "I should have handled it better. You've always been so nice to m-me and-" he shook his head as more tears streamed down his face.

 

"It's okay, Scorp. Families argue. We're cool, but I found out what they were hiding."

Scorpius looked up with huge terrified grey eyes.

"Is papa going to be okay?"

In that moment Teddy was transported to years ago when he was trying to read bedtime stories to a tiny five year old Scorpius that didn't like to look at the pictures in Beetle the Bard and hated the Tale of the Three Brothers, because although he could talk about it, death still freaked him out. He didn't have to think for long until he yanked the younger boy into a hug.

"He's going to be fine, Scorp," he rushed to say. "There's nothing wrong. It's actually a good thing."

 

"What's a g-good thing," Scorpius asked, though his voice was thick.

 

"Pop is pregnant. His hormones have just been all wacky."

The small blonde pulled away.

 

"Really!?" he asked excitedly.

 

"Yeah!"

 

"We're going to have a little brother!"

 

"Or sister," shrugged Teddy. "And don't be so loud. I don't think they wanted anyone to know yet."

Scorpius almost immediately deflated.

 

"And I yelled at him for not telling us what was going on. I barely even gave him a chance to tell us. I'm such a brat."

 

"You aren't going to get an argument from me about that."

 

" _Hey_!" whined the younger boy while punching his brother in the arm. They both laughed, but there was an even more tightly bound ball of excitement and confusion within both of them. Their fathers had a lot of explaining to do.


	8. -ocho-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the biology of male pregnancies, cause r e s e a r c h & i love s c i e n c e

The sunlight streaming in the hospital wing first thing in the morning was probably one of Harry's most, yet least, favorite things.

The light was peaceful and always gave the room an iridescent glow as it came in through the panes of stained glass window that sat high in the peeks of the tower. It streamed through from one side to the other, making the room look imaginary. The door opened slightly, but Harry was still enraptured in his own thoughts.

Lost in the way he realized how it was always calming to see another day begin after the shittier one had passed, but it was also stressful to not be able to do anything while knowing that a new day was beginning.

He had sat in the hospital wing enough to know what needed proper bed rest and what did not. Sure he had never been pregnant before, but bed rest usually meant Poppy was at his side handing him potions as soon as he was finally able to peel his eye lids apart.

No Poppy? No potions? No Potter.

Draco walked in just as Harry was sitting up and throwing his legs over the side of the bed. The blonde aimed his wand and softly forced the man's body back into the bed.

"Unh, unh, unh," he said clucking his teeth. "You are not going anywhere."

 

"Draco, I'm fine," the messy haired man insisted, sitting back up and swinging his legs back over the side of the bed. He had to find food. He was feeling peckish.

 

"It's not you, I'm worried about this time."

Harry rolled his eyes lovingly and reached out for Draco's hands that he had tucked into his crossed arms. He pulled the blonde's hand to his stomach and held it there.

" _We're_  fine." He was staring into his husband's grey eyes as he spoke. The taller man left his hand, but removed his gaze before mumbling.

 

"I just want to be sure."

 

"Awww," Harry cooed, reaching a hand up to playfully pinch Draco's cheek.

 

"If you weren't pregnant, I'd hex you into next week."

Just as Harry was about to retort a short, thin, pixie of a woman came teetering into the infirmary. She was asian, dressed in a warm orange dress with the pale blue robes of St. Mungos.

She stepped up to the table without any formalities and gestured for Draco to get out of the way. Once he had moved she performed a series of spells. Each one cast seemingly spontaneously, but each one weaving a cocoon of magic that wrapped around Harry and settled over his abdomen. She moved her wand in quick flicking motions that pulled at each thread individually which she then stepped closer to examine before moving to another and another and another. She stepped back with a sort of pride that said she enjoyed her worked before swishing her wand again and watching as the bundle of magic hardened and cracked away from harry like a twig cage breaking apart.

"Hello," she finally said reaching a hand out to each of them to shake in turn before offering a smile as well. "My name is Jean Harper and I will be your personal Healer and liason to the rest of the Male Pregnancy Ward at St. Mungos."

 

"Er...nice to meet you, Healer Harper," Harry supplied as Draco looked on rudely. He elbowed his husband.

 

"Yeah," said Draco watching her with narrowed eyes. "Delighted."

She doesn't pay him any attention, instead only looking at Harry.

 

"Mr. Potter, now that your womb is finally formed the fun part will begin." She looked a mix of giddy and insane and Draco was more than a little uncomfortable. Healer Harper waved her wand a few times before pulling out a series of pamphlets and handing them to the pregnant man, still seemingly ignoring his husband.

Draco wasn't one to be ignored peacefully.

"Actually, I have a few questions."

 

She glanced at him angrily for a brief second and he realized the insane look was directed at him. Almost on instinct he reached to pull his sleeve down more firmly.

Harry looked at him concerned when he didn't automatically continue. The blonde cleared his throat and continued.

 

"So what can we expect? What's different between a male and female pregnancy? I already have a son, so should I expect similar problems or-"

 

The woman stopped him with wide eyes that seemed somewhat angry.

"You're the other father?"

Draco ignored her.

"If you would just answer the question, that would be bloody wonderful."

 

"Well..." she still eyed him skeptically, but continued. "The first difference is conception. In females there are the ovaries that contain the eggs of course, but in the case of male pregnancies, which I may add are extremely rare, there are only a strict set of about 15 to 20 eggs in a temporary set of ovaries and they only show up after a perfect marriage bond. They show up in both partners in the case of males. The uterus in most cases usually doesn't grow, though there is an extra passage way, reachable through the anal canal. It's actually a part of the bonding ritual since it was originally made to keep wizarding bloodlines pure through any cost."

Harry looked thoughtful, but Draco nodded her on as if this were obvious information and she needed to get the rhings he didn't know.

"Once the sperm and egg meet and the magic signatures are combined fully a uterus or womb will then start to form to hold the new zygote. This can take up to a month for it to properly form, then much like a mother it will grow and shift up and forwards as the baby does. The formulation is the toughest part and you've made it through all right. The rest of this should be a piece of cake!"

Harry looked at Healer Harper as if she had taken a bludger to the head.

 

"Anything else I should know?" the dark haired man said sarcastically but she brightened up as she continued talking.

 

"We're going to get you some proper prenatal potions. Being that you're a male, your body could reject the embryo once its big enough or sometimes even the fetus and the womb will collapse in on itself. The potions will stop that from happening." She nodded to herself and made a note on a spare pamphlet that looked to appear out of nowhere yet again. "The rest of the process is the same."

 

"I don't know if you realized," Harry said. "But- er...where is the baby supposed to come out?"

 

"Oh," she said with a chuckle. Draco rolled his eyes and Harry looked between them confused.

 

"Muggle men don't get pregnant, don't act like this is something I should know!" he shoved his husband and Draco leaned in and kissed him on the temple.

 

"Of course, love. Sorry," the blonde placated while the ravenette pouted.

 

"The anus becomes the birthing canal as well," Healer Harper said simply. "The baby comes out followed by the used and displaced uterus, which falls out much like a wet bag or-" she fumbled around for a thought. "Those muggle contraceptives..."

 

"Condoms?" asked Harry.

 

"Condoms!" she exclaimed in agreement, a bit too loud for his taste. "The womb is pushed out afterwards like a used condom. And depending on how big the child is, determines the amount of excrement that is also pushed out during this particular part of the process."

Harry looked disgusted, but Draco shrugged as if he expected as much. Healer Harper stuck out her hand again and shook both of theirs, but Draco was sure she gripped his a lot tighter than necessary.

"The pamphlets and brochures," she motioned down at the series of folded parchment. "They explain more of what I told you in depth, so you can floo call me or refer to those if you have any questions."

 

Both men thanked her, though Harry did so with a bit more feeling. When she left the blonde turned to him.

"You sensed that she hated me too, right?" He looked sad but tired as well.

 

"She doesn't hate you, she barely knows us," the pregnant man responded finally being able to stand and stretch his legs.

 

"Oh, come off it, Potter. She was giving me the sodding death-eater-stare. And did you see her face when she asked if I was the baby's father!? I thought she was going to bloody hex me sideways."

 

"You're imagining things, Dray." He reached out for his husband's hand and kissed it once. Twice. "C'mon," he said nudging him. "Let's go get ready for classes before I turn into a blimp or something."

 

"What the hell is a blimp?"

 

"It's a muggle object." Harry shrugged. "Like a giant balloon you can ride inside of."

 

"Why would anyone want to do that? It sounds ridiculous."

 

"I'm surprised you even know what a balloon is."

 

"I'm not an idiot, Potter. Let's go before I leave you here."

 

Harry smiled but nodded and followed the other man out of the hospital wing before they started the trek towards their rooms to change then go their separate ways to class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have any questions about the whole mpreg process just ask, i did like actual research into normal pregnancies in order to make this flow better so i may know the answer to something even if i haven't put it in the fic as of yet.
> 
> \-- luci xoxo


	9. -nueve-

Lunch, Harry decided as he began walking from his defense classroom to the great hall, was a waste of time. He and the students could easily eat during class, then he wouldn't have to worry about walking  _all the way down to the Great Hall._  He wasn't as young as he used to be and the two pounds of liquid weight he's started to put on to prepare for the fetus was driving him insane.

He had read through the pamphlets at least three times each since he had been given them this morning. Sure he understood a bit better now, but that didn't mean he was going to be bloody happy about all the changes he was going to have to keep up with.

On the way to the Great Hall, he ran into about five different students who wanted to let him know they were happy that he was feeling good enough to come back to class even if he did look a  little uncomfortably tired. He thanked them, but put no real effort forth to smile as he slumped into the dinning hall with an exhausted air surrounding him, as if even the castle was feeling uncomfortable at the idea of what was growing inside of him.

Draco was practically glowing as he walked in. They usually kept their PDA to a minimum during school hours, but as Harry slumped towards the table, the blonde immediately stood and moved to pull out his husband's chair. A few students looked up in surprise, mostly the first years or any students who hadn't had a chance to have a class with either of the two men.

"Are you feeling any better, love?" Draco said while sliding his plate over to Harry and fixing himself a new one. The ravenette shrugged and started picking at a piece of carrot that was beneath his chicken.

 

"I'm just tired, is all." He shook his head when Draco narrowed his eyes before sending the blonde a small forced smile. "Really, I'm fine."

 

"You know you're pants when it comes to lying. What's wrong?"

 

"Can we have this conversation somewhere else? Maybe not in the middle of the bloody Great Hall?"

 

"I would just like to know if you're okay without you lying about it." The blonde turned angrily back to his own meal. Ignoring Harry for the rest of lunch unless he was asking for him to pass something or refilling both of their goblets with juice.

When Harry had finally had enough of both the food and the silent treatment he stood back up and made to leave the table. His husband grabbed his hand calmly before wiping his mouth, placing his napkin on top of his plate and standing as well. As they left the room they made their way down the corridor and up towards Harry's classroom where Draco ushered then both inside before closing and locking the door before throwing up a  _muffliato_  and a privacy charm just in case.

They stood in silence staring at each other. The paler man not knowing how to start and the darker man not knowing how to share.

Minutes passed and they both stood there staring at each other as if daring the other to just  _open their mouth_ already.

"Have you even read any of these brochures?" Were the words that finally tumbled from Harry's mouth as he motioned towards the small booklets on his desk and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

 

"Can't say that I've had the pleasure." The blonde moved slowly, but reached the desk in no time to pick up and analyze the pamphlets in front of him. Once he was finished he had his eyebrows furrowed together in thought. "Is this what has you so..." he moved his hands in a flapping motion. "...frazzled?"

 

"Maybe," said the younger man shrugging.

 

"Why couldn't you just tell me that? You aren't too far along to where anything in here is going to affect you unless you don't take your potions. I want you to be safe, love. I can't make sure you're okay if you don't talk to me when you're uncomfortable about something. Okay?"

Harry narrowed his eyes.

"You seem way too relaxed about all this. Isn't that usually my job?"

 

The taller man walked over and wrapped his arms around his husband from behind, sitting his chin on the warmer man's shoulder and placing chaste kisses on his neck.

"Sometimes you need someone to be there for you, Hare. I love just being here when you need me. You deserve the world and I want to be with you to provide it."

The bespectacled man rolled his eyes and pulled away chuckling.

 

"You're such a sap," he insisted before turning around and leaning up in order to kiss the tip of his husband's nose. He moved down then and kissed his lips. They both seemed to relax into the kiss and Draco was able to walk him back into his own desk. He lifted him and sat him on a few stray papers before their lips connected again.

 

"I'm not a sap," he said briefly as he pulled back. "Things have just been going well for us. I'm  _happy_."

Harry looked up at him almost in awe before breaking into one of those uncontainable, lopsided grins and nodding.

"Things  _are_  good." He looked up at his husband with a type of uninhibited joy. "We're going to be a real family, Dray."

 

"We are a real family," the man responded with a chuckle rolling his eyes.

 

"Obviously, but- I mean, if it's a girl then our family would be complete, wouldn't it."

Draco flicked Harry's forehead.

"Don't be such an idiot. Whatever happens, girl, boy, or anything in between, we are still a family. You, me and  _all_  of our kids, okay?" The blonde kissed his forehead softly then took off the privacy charms and unlocked the door so he could head to his own classroom.

 

Harry slid off the desk and followed him to the door. They shared a quick kiss just as the students started flooding the corridors.

"Love you," he called after the retreating blonde who laughed, but responded anyway.

 

"Love you too, Potter."


	10. -diez-

As the year wore on, Harry Malfoy-Potter was getting steadily rounder. Muggleborns assumed he was sick. Halfbloods thought that maybe he was getting fat or maybe he was really originally a woman, like Snape. Well at least until one of his third years decided to break the suspense.

A hand slowly raised during a particularly long lecture on Harry's behalf, on the validity of werewolves as beings as opposed to beasts. He glanced up and paused midsentence which caused the rest of his class to look up at well.

"Yes, Mr. Penhallow?"

 

"Are you sick, Professor?" The young hufflepuff asked nervously. He seemed honestly confused and Harry's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he realized what the boy was asking. He looked down at himself quickly and chuckled.

 

"No, I am not sick," he said precisely while looking back up with a small smile as he set the textbook down beside him on the desk and crossed his arms in front of him. "I guess that's the end of the lesson today so we can answer a few questions I'm sure you all have."

Once he spoke almost the entire class raised their hands. He called on a rather large ravenclaw girl.

"So what is wrong with you then, professor? Have you swallowed a quaffle whole? I did that once. Let me tell you, it doesn't always come back out whole, sir." He chuckled but shook his head at her anyway.

 

"Nothing's wrong," he said with an easy lopsided smile he wasn't sure if he had ever shown his students. Sure he had given them glances and smiled to himself, a few grins in the hallway or tight lipped smiles during class...

 

"Then why are you so swollen, sir?" Piped up a gangly freckle covered Ravenclaw kid with messy two toned hair and glasses.

 

"Well- you see, I'm expecting," Harry tried gently.

 

"Expecting what, sir?" The kid insisted.

 

"A child, you nitwit!" snapped a mousey looking hufflepuff. "It means he's pregnant, Aren't Ravenclaw's supposed to be the most clever of our year. The rest of the class who we just as confused all snapped surprised eyes towards Harry.

 

"Is that really true, Professor? Are you going to have a baby?"

 

"I thought only women could have babies."

 

"Are you a woman, sir?"

 

He placed his hands on his head and massaged his temples. He motioned for the class to wait a moment.

"Well- you see...wizards are also able to carry if they have a very strong bond with their partner," Harry said quoting the pamphlets as best he could.

 

"So, who's your partner then, Professor?"

 

"Professor Malfoy," yelped the same mousy girl from before, Joanne if Harry remembered correctly. "Seriously, do you guys know anything!?"

The class was in silent awe long enough that Harry had to physically step out into the hallway for the sheer feeling of shock and nausea to finally leave him alone. Well at least until Draco ran into him in the corridor.

 

"Potter? Don't you have a class?" The blonde asked narrowing his eyes as he attempted to peek behind the messy haired man as if the answer would be behind him.

 

"I could ask you the same thing..." Harry was looking sheepish as his cheeks darkened and he tried his best to avoid his husbands gaze.

Draco lifted his hands where he was holding vials of gloppy green and blue potions. Harry knew from experience how slimy they felt going down.

"I was bringing you your doses before we both forgot. Now why are you not in class? And don't say you were coming for these."

 

"Just needed a little air, is all. No big deal." He grabbed the vials and sent the paler man a quick smile before sliding back into his classroom where his students were staring at him quite seriously. He shook his head and stood a bit taller.

 

He was the  _professor_. He wasn't going to keep running to Draco when things got a bit uncomfortable in his own classroom. It was time for him to regain control. He had no reason to be shy or sheepish.

"If that's all the questions, your homework is to write an 18-inch essay on how the book discusses pixies and fairies in relation to how we have discussed them during the lecture. Please turn to Chapter 23 in your books and at least get started, yeah?"

He clapped his hands as he finished and sat behind his desk. Before he could forget he took his potions then pulled out a series of papers he knew needed grading. He looked over to grab his fire red quill and set to work. The next time he looked up it was time to dismiss the class just to start again.

By lunch time he was practically asleep. The only thing keeping him awake was the fact that he had Scorpius next period and the kid looked just as tired as he was, which means he would have to make class at least a little engaging.

Harry, late as usual, decided that maybe they should talk about the pregnancy thing as a family before he blindsided Scorp during class.

"Hey, Scorp," he said with a small smile as he walked up on his younger son still making his way towards the dinning hall.

 

"H-hey papa," the boy said smiling small and looking up at him. "What's up?"

 

"Your father and I just wanted to talk to you and Ted about something..."

Scorpius looked down towards his dad's fairly round stomach.

"If it's about you being pregnant, Teddy and I figured that out ages ago." He spoke quickly then shrugged. "Can I go to lunch now?" Harry nodded numbly and let go of the miniature blonde's shoulder.

 

At least he hadn't been hiding it from them. He had just neglected to tell them early on, but they were smart boys. He was glad they figured it out. It solved a lot when it came to discussing it, but he still had to have  _the_  talk with Scorp's class.

He sighed and shook his head. This was going to be awkward, he was sure of it. As he sat and thought he realized, once the blonde arrived, that his husband had a free period, maybe he would call him in to assist. Draco was going to murder him for this, but he just could not do this alone. Not with Scorpius staring up at him with those big grey eyes. It would be impossible.

Unless Draco agreed. He smirked over at the pale man.  _Oh, agree he will..._


	11. -once-

Draco is proud to say that he didn't cave  _immediately_. He is less proud to admit that he  _did_  cave, which is why for the rest of his free period he was holed up in Harry's classroom explaining wizardly pregnancies to the students, helping his husband answer any questions they may have.

Scorpius was practically preening with the fact that those were his parents at the front of the room. They weren't cool by any means, but they were just awkward and dorky enough where everyone still loved their interactions together. He had never noticed that until his father's were tasked with the job of describing how sex worked between two blokes. The tiny blonde was positively thrumming with the urge to laugh. He raised his hand but almost immediately lowered it when his Dad looked his way and narrowed his gaze. He blushed harder and didn't catch his eye for the rest of the lesson.

Class wasn't over quick enough and he was up and running to the door before anyone else had even finished packing.

"Hyperion," his father started with an authoritative growl that made even his Pa step away, hands on his swollen abdomen. "You stay."

Scorpius stood by the door frozen as everyone rushed by him, sending him apologetic looks along the way. Once the room was empty Draco flayed his hand out at the room in a 'please-sit-down' gesture he usually reserved for lectures and he barely withheld the need to roll his eyes as he slowly eased into a seat in the front row where Nick usually sat if the charmed drawings of dragons breathing fire on the table were anything to go by.

"You're too young to be having sex," his father said without any preamble forcing his head to snap up. He knew he was going red and the anxious feelings were fighting through his potions causing his brain to stop inching forward and speed through a variety of scenarios of himself with Hugo, or himself with Nick or himself with Nick  _and_  Hugo. He wasn't sure if you could tell his face from a tomato at this point.

 

"I-I wasn't- w-we aren't- that's not-" He shook his head vehemently to clear the images and attempt to form a complete sentence, but his father had started speaking again.

 

"These lessons are necessary, not only to explain what's going on with your Pa, but to help you all to understand that the things you all are feeling is natural, but you are too young to be-"

 

"Draco, you don't think we'd know if our kids were having sex?" Harry put in.

Scorpius went even redder (if that was possible).

"I'm n-not hav-having sex with Hu!" The small blonde said loudly. When the older Malfoy-Potter opened his mouth he continued. "Or anyone else f-for that matt-t-ter!"

 

Draco's face went from lecturing father to concerned in seconds and Harry stepped forward and squatted as best he could to be eye level with Scorpius sitting at the desk.

"Scorp, have you been going to Pomfrey to take your potions?" he was speaking softly.

He nodded vehemently and tried to open his mouth, but the blonde's head was spinning. The room was spinning. Everything was spi-

The chair tilted backwards as Scorpius tipped over out of his seat and the room went dark.

 

\--:--

 

"You were stressing him out, his brain got over-stimulated," Harry said as Draco carried his son's body to the infirmary.

 

"Don't you think I know I messed up,  _again_ ," Draco said snapping his head up to angrily look at his husband before looking back down at his son.

 

"No, Dray that's not what I was implying  _at all_ ," the ebony haired man responded very seriously with a tight grip on the blondes shoulder. They had stopped just outside the door to the hospital wing and Harry was looking at him with those loving green eyes, but he could only keep his eyes on Scorpius.

As he stared down at the boy all he could see was his baby. The only child Astoria was able to carry. The only thing that mattered to him for years, up until Harry stumbled back into his life with Teddy.

He could imagine the boy now wrapped in his blanket with his antique Malfoy rattle and those big grey eyes blinking up at him as his other hand played in his own mouth. He blinked a few times to clear his vision and realized he was crying.

"I just- He isn't a baby anymore, Harry. He isn't  _my_  baby anymore. He's grown up, he has a boyfriend and friends and- do you know he asked me for a razor the other day? He's only twelve so I doubt he has anything to really shave, but- How did you do this with Teddy? How could you stand it?"

Harry was shaking his head as he responded with a sad smile. "I didn't. I still can't, why do you think I insist on having family dinners. I like being there for them. I like knowing that they still need me- need us, sometimes. They always will, you know? Plus," he said nudging the tall paler man. "You have another baby on the way, remember?"

Draco leaned over and kissed his husband lightly before smiling as the ravenette wiped the tears from his face.

"Thank you, Harry."

 

"For what?" he asked, looking up at him confused.

 

"For always trying with me. You shouldn't have to...I just mean, you deserve more than-"

 

"I can tell you why you're wrong later, let's just get our son to Poppy, okay?"

Draco chuckled but agreed and together they walked into the infirmary with Scorpius only to find their other son surrounded by a group of fifth year hufflepuffs and gryffindors as he sat in bed joking through a duck bill with a broken arm and leg.

 

"All of you, out," Harry growled in that protective way he had. "Now!" he snapped when no one seemed to be moving. Then he turned his eyes on Teddy and crossed his arms. The teen sheepishly looked down.

Draco laid Scorpius in a bed once Madam Pomfrey entered from her office and motioned him towards an empty one. She shooed him off as she checked the boy for damage and he turned around crossing his arms as well.

"Alright Theodore, explain."


	12. -doce-

"Well...see, we were out on the pitch and-"

 

As Teddy told the story both Harry and Draco followed along and made surprised noises at the appropriate moments. Even when speaking through a duck bill, Teddy was still a very good story teller. He usually told the Christmas stories during Holidays at the Burrow. Seeing that break was only a week or so away, he may have to step down for a year.

"Okay...so what I'm gathering is you did something you probably shouldn't have done because you were trying to help your friend," Harry was nodding understandably.

 

"Probably? Potter, he definitely shouldn't have been jumping from his broom."

 

"Draco-"

 

"No, Potter. You're just feeling too...lenient right now."

 

"No," said Harry turning angrily to face his husband. "Finish what you were going to say. 'I'm too emotional right now' I'm not seeing clearly because I'm being a 'mother hen Gryffindor'. Or maybe it's the 'hormones' talking. He saved someone and no one got seriously hurt, by all definitions it's been a good day."

 

"By whose standards?" Draco snapped staring intently back at him.

 

"Mine!" Harry said back just as vehemently.

 

"Harry, we aren't in the middle of war anymore! This isn't normal!" He motioned over at the still currently billed boy laying in the bed. "Teddy getting hurt and thinking it's okay just because it's for the-greater-good isn't okay. You thinking that isn't okay. You're both worth just as much than anyone else. You're actually worth more to me and Scorp."

 

"Draco, he's fine!"

 

"Harry he has two bloody broken bones! That is not fine! How do you not get that?"

 

"Bones heal, okay? I'm sorry if I'm not crying or berating him like you want me to. And I get it, we aren't in war anymore, but that's why I know that this part is okay. This- this knowing he's going to make it. He isn't going to die. He isn't already-" Harry took a deep breath and looked away, placing a calming hand on his stomach.

 

"I just don't think you're seeing what I'm seeing, love," Draco said through clenched teeth, trying to calm down.

 

"I've seen the same exact thing you see. I saw it the very first time he broke his hand playing quidditch at The Burrow. Or when he had to get stitches above his eye for tripping out of the floo. He's going to get hurt, we all are. That's why it's okay."

 

"Harry-"

 

"No, Draco listen. You've seen people die, I know that. You've seen people be tortured and you've done some things- we both have, but at the end of the day you got to walk out of that with your parents. You got to leave knowing they were going to be okay even for a day or so. Some of us didn't get that luxury, I've seen too many people I love get ripped away from me, right in front of my eyes. I know you know what that feels like. I remember what you felt like when it happened." He pointed at Teddy. "What do you see?"

Draco grudgingly turned around to look at the blue haired boy in the bed.

"Teddy's in a hospital bed with a broken arm and a broken shin and a few fractured toes and-"

 

"You want to know what I see," the ravenette spoke, cutting him off mid-description. "Teddy, in a hospital bed. Alive. He's learned a few lessons about broom safety along the way, but he's mostly together."

 

"He's alive," the blonde breathed out all at once, as if the most obvious answer was also the most awe inspiring. Harry nodded slowly as if reaffirming it.

They stood there in a sort of uncomfortably equal silence, before Pomfrey started speaking.

"Both boys will be fine. Theodore has a few potions later and Scorpius needs to rest, so you two have to leave. Before you go though...Mr. Potter, sit." She was still catering to Scorpius, but she pointed towards the bed next to Teddy and directly across from the one she was currently standing beside. Harry knew better than to disobey and briskly made his way over to the other cot and sat down.

She walked over to him with a strong sense of purpose as she began flicking her wand above him in practiced, precise movements. Her brow was furrowed so he knew this wasn't one of her usual-everyday spells, this was one of the new ones she learned from St. Mungos recently, the ones she learned just for him. He blushed as she continued swishing her wand and muttering. When Pomfrey finally pulled away she looked pleased enough to smile at him.

"So, what's new, Poppy?" questioned his blonde husband from just behind her, peeking over her shoulder and looking concerned (overtly so).

 

"Everything is fine, more than fine really. I'm going to call St. Mungos right now and they'll send someone over here within the week for your 6 month check in, but everything as of now seems great."

Poppy looked almost as eager as Draco as he grinned excitedly in Harry's direction. Meanwhile the ravenette was trying to form words but looking more along the lines of a puffer fish.

"Si-six months!? We've only been in school since September!" He finally sputtered out. "That's only four months, five at the most."

 

"It would be if you were a female, Mr. Potter, but with things as they are...the first two months of your pregnancy were dedicated to allowing the new child and womb to settle. Not to mention the strength of your magic can impact how long your term actually is. So although you may only be six months along you should consider that you may have your child as soon as next week. It's actually shocking you hadn't realized how far along you were before. Look at you-"

 

"You look beautiful, love," Draco cut in.

 

"Your abdomen is as big as a bludger, Mr. Potter," Pomfrey said giving Draco the evil eye. "Someone from St. Mungos will be better suited to give you the specifics if you choose to not go full term when you come for your check up, though I doubt you want to have the baby before you had initially planned." She nodded at him once before placing a hand on his face lovingly then walking away. "Now get out of my infirmary."

Harry scrambled to get up, practically dragging his stunned husband behind him. Once they were far enough away Harry stopped.

"Would you want to..?" he started. Draco gave hima black stare.

 

"Would I want to what? Use your words, Potter."

 

"Would you want me to only carry part-term?" He was chewing on his lip in a way that would usually be endearing.

 

"Well, I hadn't really thought of it as an option."

 

"Now that it is, though?"

 

"I can think on it, but we would still have to discuss it, either way. It's your body, Harry."

 

"But it's our baby..."

 

As the pale man stood there thinking it over, Harry grew more and more nervous. His hand would come up every few seconds to brush a strand of flyway hair from his own face almost on instinct. Everytime it flopped back down he reached to fix it until finally the blonde grabbed his hands out of the air and forced them by his sides, while leaning forward to kiss the tip of his nose. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand then aimed it at Harry's hair forcing it into a loose messy bun on the back of his head.

"Calm down, love. What I think doesnt't matter and we have to see what the healer thinks about it in any case. Either way, love, it's up to you, though. You know that." The taller man leaned in for a real kiss and spoke after pecking his lips a few times. "I'll love our child whether they're early or on time or, in your case, always late."

 

"Git," whispered Harry in response before tilting his head up to kiss his husband again. After a few moments they just stood there, with their eyes closed and foreheads together just happily smiling at one another even though neither of them could see it.


	13. -trece-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this is a bit late, it's kind of finals week >.<
> 
> \- luci

Scorpius blinked his eyes open, but immediately knew he was not awake. He was standing in his father's study at the Manor and everything was absolutely too big.

 

_He took a few wobbly steps forward and there was Astoria standing with a smile as she lifted Scorpius into the air with a smile before sitting him on her hip._

 

_"Hello, little one, on another adventure are we?"_

 

_"No, Mama!" The small boy said happily, but Scorpius didn't remember deciding to speak. He blinked again and he wasn't a young boy, he was himself, just watching the memory._

 

_"So what are you doing in there then, Hyperion?" his mother asked carrying him out of the room._

 

_"Can'y," the boy replied quite seriously. "For the thing."_

 

_"The thing? What thing?" she sounded stunned._

 

_"In my bed, Mama. Come see," little Scorpius said leaving no room for debate. She agreed and carried him into his room and pulled the covers back to reveal two very small baby kneazles who had wound themselves into a tightly knit ball together. She gasped and set Scorpius down before moving over to his bed and conjuring food in one hand and holding it out patiently for the small animals. They sniffed around for a minute before turning big smokey green eyes her way and tripping over themselves to get to her._

_Once they were done the woman simply picked them up and took them outside to the garden to let them loose in the maze with young Scorpius chasing after._

_The scene changes and Draco was helping her clean his bed before tucking the smallest blonde in. Draco ruffled his hair before brushing it back softly with a smile and his mother leaned in and kissed his forehead. The small boy huffed then covered his mother's mouth with his hand._

_"No. No kisses, Mama." He said sternly. "'M'not tired." Astoria nodded obligingly but older Scorpius could see that she was just trying to keep a straight face as her lips quirked into a semblance of a smile._

_Scorpius blinks tiredly and when he slowly opens his eyes again he's in the infirmary and realizes belatedly how late it is before also noticing that tears are rolling down his cheeks. He wiped his face and turned over pulling the small blanket over him higher before noticing that there was a quilt laying at the foot of the bed that he was sure was a gift from a Weasley. He grabbed the quilt and rolled over, before going back to sleep with a soft sigh._

The next time he awoke it was midday and he was watching his father being escorted from the infirmary by Madam Pomfrey.

"Either you will behave, or you will leave, Mr. Malfoy," she was giving him the same look she gave students, that look that dared you to disagree. His father, ever the graceful coward, did not disagree.

 

"I'll wait in the corridor."

 

She narrowed her eyes at him only for a second before responding and ushering him back into the room.

"He's just as nervous as you are, if not more. This is a big announcement and he wants you there for it, but you can't go around disrespecting St. Mungo's staff."

For the first time Scorpius realized she was referring to his papa and looked around the hospital wing until he noticed a curtain pulled around an area a few beds down. Then almost shockingly he realized that things were going to change soon. His papa being pregnant was one thing, but soon he wasn't going to be, there was going to be a baby in the family. A baby in his family. He sat up way too fast and had to sit back slightly dizzy.

 

\--:--

 

Harry sat on the side of the bed tapping his thumbs against the top of his round front with a small smile until Healer Harper gave him a pointed look. He set his arms by his side as she waved her wand over him and Draco returned to stand by his side.

"I'll play nice," he said in resignation while looking softly towards his pregnant husband. "Only because you need me here. Both of you," he said looking towards Harry's stomach then back towards his eyes. The ravenette smiled back at him, but Healer Harper didn't seem to be paying attention to anything other than her job anyway. A bead of sweat slid down her face and she took more than a few steadying breaths and just as she started to turn red she dropped her wand arm.

 

"Mr. and Mr. Potter-"

 

Draco was gritting his teeth, but Harry responded with that artificial kindness he had been known to have when he was angry, but didn't want his anger to affect anyone else. He had seen what that could do to a person and he hadn't wanted to do the same.

"Malfoy-Potter, actually," he said smile still in place.

 

"Well, Mr. and Mr. Malfoy-Potter," Healer Harper corrected herself. "You will be happy to know that your baby is growing tremendously and is as magically healthy as possible at this current stage. I mean to say that the magic surrounded the fetus and allowing it to grow is quite strong. Babies don't tend to show an affinity for magic this early on. That's also not to say that the baby can't be a squib, but most male pregnancies do end with magically-abled children. Something else I am able to share with you now is the sex of the baby. Would you like to know?"

Harry looked at Draco questioningly as if the decision rested on him. The blonde realized with a start that it probably did. Harry already knew what he wanted to hear. He knew that anything would be better than not knowing at this point. Their eyes caught for a moment and he smiled down at his still seated husband then looked to Healer Harper and nodded.

"Congratulations, you two are fathers-to-be of a beautiful baby girl."

 

A sob caught in Harry's throat as he smiled through the happy tears running down his face. He gripped the paler man's hand tightly before pulling him into a crushing hug. He was sure his husband's robes were going to be ruined by his salty tears, but he also knew neither of them could care less at this point.

"A baby girl," the taller man said in awe as he kissed the darker man's cheek over and over with tears in his eyes as well. Before anything else could be said Healer Harper cleared her throat and straightened her robes with a hint of a smile that was one of the first cracks in her serious business demeanor that either of them had ever seen.

 

"There is still one question: Are you going to carry the child full term? If so I can schedule your next appointment either at St. Mungo's or in house at your residence. Otherwise we can prepare you for the spells and procedure."

Harry glanced at Draco again, but this time he looked more lost than reassured. Draco grabbed his hand and kissed it.

"Whatever you decide love, that's what we're going to do."

 

"I- I think I'm going to wait," he said looking at Draco as if gauging his reaction before turning to face Healer Harper who gave him a sharp nod and a professional smile.

 

"Terrific!" she said in agreement. "Though, you should know that with your amount of magic and the love I can see between the two of you and what I assume to be the rest of your family, can speed up the process of it's own accord. If you really wish to go full term then try to be careful with how much powerful magic you produce or is produced around you. Other than that..." She reached a hand into the air and pulled a clipboard out of what seemed to be nowhere and started looking through pages and pages of notes. She reached a hand into her tight bun and plucked out a self inking quill and began writing on one of the pages before the clipboard and papers disappeared altogether. A moment later a slip appeared in her hands which she handed to the two men. "Here is your next appointment date and time, you can just mark whether you would like us to meet you at home or at St. Mungo's and we will take care of the rest accordingly."

They both looked at the sheet before Harry shrugged and marked St. Mungo's.

"You bloody Gryffindor, just planning on taking the Whomping Willow by the limbs, eh?" the blonde asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

 

"People are going to find out eventually, I would prefer it be on our terms. Not to mention, I'm sure most of the students have written home to their parents about it anyway. A pregnant Harry Potter is not news today any more than it was yesterday."


	14. -catorce-

As expected, letters had started to come in and the next few mornings during breakfast saw Professor Potter being bombarded by owls until Headmistress McGonagall rerouted them to force envelopes to his personal quarters.

That night at family dinner while both he and Draco checked the letters, the boys were simply giddy about the good news.

"A baby sister!" Scorpius says in awe.

 

"So what're you going to name'er?" Teddy chimes in as well, just as excited. Both of them had stopped eating to listen to their fathers' responses.

 

"Narcissa Lily?" asks Harry chewing on a green bean, with his head tilted to the side as he looks across the table towards his husband who is shaking his head.

 

"Lily Narcissa," Draco says instead, wiping at the corners of his mouth with his napkin.

Scorpius looked between his dads and snorted. When they looked at him his smile quickly fell and he snapped his mouth shut.

"Uh...I just meant to say, th-they both sound the same. Why does the order matter? _What's in a name_ , and all that, you know?"

 

"Shakespeare?" asked his bespectacled dad looking over to his father. "He knows Shakespeare?"

 

"Of course he knows Shakespeare," said the older blonde preening. "I homeschooled him, remember. I've always loved Shakespeare."

 

"B-but I thought Shakespeare was a muggle writer..."

 

"Oh, he was. Very plebian and what have you, but his writings are classics. His work was able to bring together witches, wizards _and_ muggles during a time of blood purity in a way nothing else did. It is said to be possible that he was possibly a squib but-"

 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, very romantic." Teddy said offhandedly, his hair changing between a pastel blue and a silvery hue. "You two nerds getting off on history and literature is beautiful. True love at it's finest, but we were discussing _names_ , specifically our sister's."

A wand was pointed in his face within seconds and he was burping up bubbles. Scorpius doubled over in laughter.

"I'm pretty sure we taught you how to show respect, Ted. It'd be great if you'd actually do it," Harry said before doing the countercurse. Teddy blushed, but held his ground with an agreeing nod.

 

"Sorry, pops, but I was just trying to get back, you know, on topic." He shrugged and looked back down at his plate before looking back up when he realized no other words were forthcoming from anyone. He met his brother's eyes, but he only shrugged before restating his own previous question.

 

"Why does the order matter?" Scorpius said finally ticking into his food again.

 

"Mostly out of respect," Draco said. "Harry's mother, your Nan as it were, even if we never got to know her, was known for her intelligence and bravery, but so is your Grand-mère so we agreed that your sister would be named after both of them, but we can't agree on what order will honor them each the best."

 

"But...it doesn't really matter does it? Either way you're honoring them, it's more about what you would rather call her when it's time to do chores and stuff, right?"

Teddy snorted in agreement and the men like at each other in surprise before belatedly agreeing.

"Lily Narcissa?" Harry asked. Draco smirked in agreement.

 

"Lily Narcissa," the oldest blonde said with a decisive nod. "Now we can pick a room for her once we're home for break." Although he was trying to look impassive, his family could see the joy in his eyes and the giddiness in his quick and wager movements.

When dinner was over the boys sat silently on the retransfigured furniture. They looked at each other then back at their parents multiple times before both of the men finally acknowledged it.

"What!?" Harry says feeling uncomfortable in ways he hasn't been in ages. Like he was the boy-who-lived all over again.

 

"Don't stare, it makes your Pa nervous," Draco was lounging in the armchair next to the fireplace. "Gives him war flashbacks. Please learn to use your words. I'm sure you're both capable."

 

"W-well- uh..." started Scorpius quietly then cleared his throat. "We were wondering if-"

 

" _You_ were wondering," cut in Teddy. Scorpius reached over and plucked his forehead before during back into the couch again. He puffed out his cheeks before speaking again.

 

"Okay, _I_ was wondering if I could..." his voice got quieter and more jumbled as he went along.

 

"Mumbling, Hyperion," Draco corrected almost absently and the boy nodded before looking Harry directly in the eyes and blushing profusely.

 

"I was w-wondering if I could touch your belly...you know, if I could feel Lily k-kicking," he finally uttered, his voice cracking on the last word making him blush even harder. Harry nodded with tears welling up in his eyes. He lifted his shirt and almost immediately there was a small pale hand pressing softly yet firm against his abdomen and he looked up to smile at his husband who was stuck in thought.

Scorpius froze when his hand finally made contact with his Papa's abdomen. He was suddenly five years old again, holding his mother's hand and staring at the baby kneazles in his bed. He blinked again to clear his vision and smiled up at his dad then motioned over for Teddy to join him.

The last time Draco had sat here in this armchair beside this exact fireplace he was scratching through another set of lines as he tried to write down the account of their sixth year together at Hogwarts. He had ended up sleeping on the couch that night after they had tired themselves out with all the yelling and swearing and curses sent soaring towards each other. Now as he looked up he couldn't help but smile as he watched his son crouch down and lay an ear on his husband's stomach in the hope of hearing any sign of his baby sister. Even Teddy had moved over and laid his hands on his dad's rounded abdomen as well.

"You guys want to hear something cool?" asked the pale man standing and motioning them to follow him into their bedroom. Once they were all in the room he allowed Harry to lie on the bed then lifted his wand carefully aiming it at his baby girl. He had been practicing these spells for days. Both Pomfrey and their Healer thought it would be good for him to know these if nothing else. He took a deep breath and whispered the incantation, being sure to keep his movements fluid and when he dropped the wand there was a second or two of silence before there was a loud and distinct beating.

_**Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom.** _

It and what could only be it's echo took over the entire room with its intensity and the boys closed their eyes with grins on their faces.

"Is that-" started Teddy before stopping and opening his eyes to look at Harry.

 

"It's her heartbeat," he confirmed with a soft smile.

 

"Do you want to see her?" asked Draco looking at both boys in turn. They nodded, excited in a way he hadn't seen them since Christmas so many years ago or even on their wedding day. He took another deep breath and then start whispering incantations again before placing the tip of his wand on Harry's exposed stomach and lightly dragging across it in a spiral motion then pulling back and creating a circular motion. When he finally dropped his wand arm and released a breath, there was a small bubble floating above Harry's stomach.

They all seemed to stare at it in awe as they watched Lily move and squirm. Draco blinked a few times when he saw what he thought was- no. He shook his head again. She was fine. Of that he was ultimately sure.


	15. -quince-

The the ravenclaws sighted heavily as they walked down the path towards their rides back to the train then to their homes.

The last few days of school were tiring in their endlessness and Scorpius couldn't for the life of him figure out how to make the time move any quicker. So when he had finished packing and it was finally time to leave he was hoping his best friends would help pass the time too, but it isn't until they're waiting by the carriages that Natalie actually starts talking.

"It's like we've been waiting all year for this break and now that it's here..." she shrugs. "I don't even know if I want to go home."

 

"You're parents are fighting again?" Scorpius asks, but he already knows the answer. Nick hasn't smiled properly in weeks and Nat is only talking in small bursts. Whenever their parents start arguing they would get brought into it with letters and firecalls from relatives. Natalie shrugs again. He supposed they thought their kids were always supposed to be able to just fix everything with magic.

 

"The life of having squibs as parents, eh?"

 

"What're your plans for break, Scorp?" Nick asks changing the subject with a small smile, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

 

"No plans really. Just us at the manor. I think my grandparents are coming over, but that isn't until Christmas Eve."

 

"What- uh- You said you had a boyfriend right? Ro's brother? What about him?" He said it nonchalantly, but his shoulders were tense. Scorpius blushed and looked away.

 

"Hugo? I-I mean, he may come over, but our parents aren't on the best of terms so..." His voice cracked only slightly and he looked at Natalie for a way out.

 

"Yeah, we get it. Send us an owl and we may just pop by for a bit. Put a little life back into your ol'  _manor_ , yeah?" she was smirking as she spoke but the way her blue eyes glistened he knew she really hoped he would.

 

"The manor is huge," the small blonde mumbles shyly with red cheeks. "I mean I have my own entire wing. I forgot you guys hadn't even seen it yet. I swear if my dads thought they could get away with it they would keep you the entire holiday."

 

"Wait," Nick says cutting his laugh short when Scorpius doesn't laugh along with him. "You're serious? I've seen you wear the same sweater for a solid week and now you're telling me you're some pompous rich kid?"

 

"Well, my father had his own money set aside so when the ministry took Malfoy funds for war reparations we were still pretty fine for cash, and my papa is also kind of rich..." The boy was almost whispering as his friends looked at him in surprised.

Nick was cooking on his own spit so Natalie had to respond.

"It's like we knew that objectively, but never connected the dots to you, you know?" she motioned to him excitedly before trying to better get her point across. "Like sure, Professor Potter is like The-Boy-Who-Lived, but he's just our dorky pregnant professor and like your dad. It's almost impossible to see him as a kid who fought this big bad evil."

 

"We have a rich best friend, Nat. Why have we not been taking advantage of this before now?" asks Nick jokingly before cautiously throwing an arm over Scorpius' shoulder.

 

"Maybe because he's such a good person," she said from the other side of the blonde with a smile.

 

"No," her brother responds looking into Scorpius' eyes getting suddenly serious. "I don't think that's it." Scorpius looks away and the dark haired girl reaches over to smack the back of her brother's head.

 

"Stop being weird, Nick."

Scorpius sends her a small thankful smile and Nick coughs out a laugh just as Teddy joins them holding hands with Elle, but making heart eyes at Victoire. His girlfriend huffs out her own version of a laugh that causes him to snap back with a soft smile of his own.

 

"You ready to go Scorp?" He asks, sending a friendly smile to Nat and Nick.

 

"Hey, Elle. Hey, Teddy." He smiled apologetically at her, but otherwise didn't change his flow of thoughts. "D'you think Dads will let me bring friends home for the holidays?"

 

"I don't see why not. We can go ask now." The older boy got a mischievous look in his eyes. "They can't say no if they're standing right there, right? C'mon." He motioned for them to follow him.

 

"Why do I feel like this can go very bad?" said Scorpius to himself.

 

"Because this is also the guy who didn't think his girlfriend would see him making googly eyes at another girl," Nick whispered back.

 

"You might actually be right this time, but I'm just waiting to see how long it takes before she gives him a right hook," Scorp snorted out before they both laughed and caught up with the other two.

Draco nudged Harry as the kids came into view, then calmly kissed his cheek.

 

"And you didn't think we were going to have a full table this year," he said quietly into his husband's ear. The ravenette chuckled and elbowed the slightly taller blonde.

 

"Hey Scor. Nat, Nick, you two ready to be home for the holidays?" Harry asked with a smile and a hand on his rounded abdomen.

 

"No sir, can't say we are," Natalie says smiling back at him, causing Nick to snort.

 

"That's er- actually why they're here...S-see I was wondering if maybe they could j-join us during winter hols. Things at their house have been hard."

 

"Hard?" Teddy says with his eyebrows raised in question.

 

"Have been bad," the young blonde corrects trying not to tell all of his friend's personal information.

 

"Bad?" Teddy says this time with a chuckle and another raise of his brows.

 

"Have been rough," Scorpius says one last time, trying again.

 

"Kinky," laughs Teddy as Elle smacks him on the back of the head. He smiles at her before morphing his face into a dog and licking her cheek then morphing back. She couldn't help but to laugh at that.

 

"Are you sure you're not the oldest," Natalie says through a giggle and a cleared throat. The small boy huffs out a breath.

 

"I've been asking myself the same thing every time I speak to him."

 

"It makes sense why you never leave the tower now," chimed in Nick. Scorpius nods his agreement.

 

"Doesn't it?"

Before they can continue their group banter Harry cuts in with his consent, but Draco, being ever the responsible one (not even he could think that with a straight face), tells them what actually needs to be done.

"Our doors are always open for you two, but you both need to go home first. I'm sure your parents miss you, even if it doesn't seem like it. If you still want to spend the holidays with us let your parents know where you are and you both can floo over for dinner. Alright?"

Natalie sighed dramatically but Nick covered her mouth and agreed for both of them then started dragging her away.

"Thank you, Professor Malfoy. See you later, Professor Potter. We gotta get back or we'll miss the train!" As they both turned to run he turned back around blushing, Scorpius was sure it was because of all the excercise and the cold weather. "Bye, Scorpius! See you later, yeah?"

 

"Of course!" he yells back waving and blushing just as hard.

 

"Ohhh," says Teddy from behind him. "You  _like_  him."

 

"No, I'm g-going with Hugo, remember?" Scorpius turns around angrily. He stares hard at Teddy with narrow eyes then spoke slowly to be sure he wouldn't stutter and flounder through his sentence. "And you aren't one to tak, now are you?"

The older boy looks away and before the situation can be dropped his father is jumping in as well.

"He certainly likes you. Doesn't take a seeker to notice that."

Scorpius blushed harder as he stomped towards their carriage. It was going to take them closer to the Manor instead of to the train. As long as he could ignore them for the rest of the ride, he'd be fine.

He was with Hu. He liked  _Hugo_. It didn't matter that he'd liked Nick since he'd first laid eyes on him. He couldn't be with  _both_  of them.  _That_  much he knew. He was happy with Hugo. When the messy red-head finally made it to Hogwarts things would make more sense. He was just lonely is all. He crossed his arms and looked out of his side of the carriage, anything to avoid his family all coupled off. He needed to think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes that is a blatant DEH reference. someone commented on one of my other stories as i was typing also my little brother and i have been blasting musical soundtracks for about a week :)))))))


	16. -dieciséis-

**December 22nd**

When they finally landed on the grounds in Wiltshire, Scorpius kept a quick pace until he was the first one through the doors to Malfoy Manor, trying not to be so down. It was practically Christmas and here he was pouting about his love life like a such a  _girl._ He shook his head as he made his way up the stairs towards his floor, then his room where he tried his hardest not to slam his door before tossing his wand onto the bed briefly followed by himself. Sadly enough for the sad boy, he wasn't left alone for long, because Teddy and Elle were standing in his doorway happily, beckoning him to come help put up decorations.

"I am almost positive we have house elves who do that," Scorpius practically snapped sarcastically.

 

"Woah," Teddy said dropping his smile and taking a step towards his little brother. "Scorp, are you mad at me?"

 

"Not as mad as she should be," he said angrily, pointing at the usually talkative girl who had been almost uncharacteristically quiet ever since the Victoire incident. "But I c-can't say I part-t-ticularly want to see anyone right n-now. Hence why I came u-up here alone and th-the door was cl-closed!"

Teddy's hair flashed pink before becoming a flaming red. He dropped Elle's hand and walked closer to the paler boy until he was practically towering over him. His voice was eerily calm.

"If you have something to say, Scorpius, say it."

 

"Elle doesn't des-serve you treating her l-like that. With all the t-time you spend with Victoire, I don't even th-think you really like her anymore," the shorter boy said staring him directly in the eyes.

 

"I don't think it's really any of your business. Not saying you're any better. Just because Hugo isn't at Hogwarts that doesn't mean you can stare down Nick's throat all the bloody time. What are you going to do when they're both here for Christmas?"

 

"Th-that's not true!"

 

"It's as true as the fact you can't focus on a sodding thing long enough to finish them! You know, I'm actually surprised you can hold a conversation most days, but you always stutter through them in the end." Teddy was spitting venom and he just couldn't stop. _How dare Scorpius yell at him? Like he had did something wrong. He had always been there for him and this is what he got back every time. So what if the blonde was having an off day._ He put a sneer on his face before continuing then doing an impression of his fathers. "I'm getting sick and tired of everyone fawning all over you. ' _Have you taken your potions today, Scorpius_?' or ' _Take deep breaths Scorpius._ ' Or, my personal favorite;  _'Have you eaten today, Scorpius? Would you like me to call a house elf to get you a sandwich or a biscuit?'_ I mean, honestly, you would think that growing up would mean you got more mature, learn to do some things for yourself, but really you're still the same little spoiled brat crying for his  _Mummy_ you were when I first met you!"

Elle sucked in a surprised breath before turning then rushing away and Teddy froze, but before he could start his apology Scorpius was responding just as harshly.

"Oh, well at least I  _h-had_  parents! You knew yours for what? A c-coupl'a days? A month? I'm sure they made quite the imp-pression on you, though," Scorpius spat back rolling his eyes, but before he could say anything else, Teddy was pushing him, hard. His back was against the wall next to the alcove beneath his bay window, the corner of his mahogany desk was digging into his side and Teddy's wand was at aimed at his throat.

The door behind them was thrown open even wider before Harry pointed a wand and the still angry flaming head boy flew back until he was standing against the opposite wall unable to move. When Scorpius moved to retaliate an attack he found he was unable to move as well. Elle was standing between their parents looking down sheepishly and although they wouldn't be admitting it anytime soon, they were both glad she had went for help, because they had no idea what would have happened if she hadn't.

"Now," started Draco as calmly as he could through gritted teeth. His fists were clenched at his sides as he took a few deep inhales through his nose.

 

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?" Harry said over his husband, seething. His tan skin looked almost as if it were glowing with red-hot coals from within. "You're not even  _allowed_ to use magic out of Hogwarts," he said rounding on Teddy. "So what were you going to do, Ted? Get expelled, because you and your brother were having a domestic?"

 

"No, but-" the boy tried to respond, his hair fading until only the tips of his hair was flaming, while the rest reverted to it's usual pastel turquoise.

 

"Then why would you ever- and I mean,  ** _ever_** \- aim your wand at him like that?" Harry continued before groaning and placing a hand on his stomach with a grimace. Teddy who was looking down, properly disciplined, snapped his eyes up scared. Draco stepped towards him, immediately nervous for his husband and his baby girl. He placed a hand on the small of his back and another on his shoulder, before summoning the chair from Scorpius' desk for the ravenette to sit in. Once he was sure Harry was okay, he turned narrowed eyes on both of his sons.

 

"I'm going to count to 10 and someone is going to tell me what is going on."

 

"You don't have t-" Teddy tried to interrupt since Scorpius still looked a mix of angry and scared for his life.

 

"Un," The blonde man started in french, looking as though he hadn't heard a thing.

 

"Dad-"

 

"Deux."

 

"Teddy tried to kill m-" Scorpius started finally snapping out of the staring match he was stubbornly having with his carpet.

 

"Trois."

 

"I just-"

 

"Quatre."

 

"He-"

 

"Cinq."

 

"How are supposed to answer if you keep bloody counting!?" Scorpius snapped and even he looked surprised at himself before he went back to staring at the carpet. He took a deep breath and spoke only looking at his feet. "I just want to be left alone. It's not Teddy's fault. I just took my anger out on him and-"

 

"No...It was my fault too." The blue haired boy was staring off to the side not clearly uncomfortable with what he did. With what they both did. You were mad and you told us to leave you alone and I- I shouldn't have pushed you. I shouldn't have aimed my wand at you either. I don't know what I was thinking..."

 

"Elle," said Harry with his eyes closed and clenched teeth as Draco rubbed at his shoulders still shooting daggers at both boys. "Thank you for coming to get Draco and I, but I think you should go home."

 

"Uh- yes, sir. Er- See you later, Teddy, Scorpius. Bye Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy." She was gone in an instant rushing off down the hall towards the library to use the fireplace and floo home for the first time all break.

 

"You're draining what little energy you have right now, love. Let them down," Draco said as soothingly as possible. His husband sucked in a breath and on the exhale both boys, who hadn't noticed they were depending on the magic to keep them upright, fell face first onto the floor. Harry slumped in his seat before taking a few more calming breaths and opening his eyes.

 

"You're both grounded." He stood up as if he hadn't just said anything and patted the blonde man on the shoulder before walking out of the room and taking the stairs to their bedroom. "I think I'm going to lie down."


	17. -diecisiete-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ehhhh filler/shitty explanation of the relationship between the Malfoy-Potters and the Granger-Weasleys...hope it makes sense

**December 23**

The previous night ended uneventfully with a scarily silent dinner to end the night before everyone headed to their own quarters for the rest of the evening. In the morning Harry woke up early to use the bathroom, but before he could even think of making the decision to lie back down, he heard the fireplace flare to life in the living room. Within seconds there was a house elf in their bedroom looking surprised and sheepish all at once in a way he was sure only house elves were capable of.

"Visitors for Master Harry Potter. Them says them needs to see you urgently sir."

Draco, who had been up reading a bit before Harry had began to stir, snorted out a laugh when his husband threw a mini stomping fit before throwing on a pair of pajama bottoms, promptly turning around and storming to down the stairs with angry mutters:

_Of course they need to see me urgently. I'm a sodding blimp in a house full of stairs, but of course they couldn't just bloody call me, they needed to see me. I swear to Merlin I can never just-"_

 

"Thank you, Kizzy. I'm going to join him. Would you mind making sure the boys are up and getting ready for breakfast?"

 

"It'd be Kizzy's pleasure, sir," said the excitable elf with a bow, being sure to keep a tight grip on her soft pink speckled knitted cap. Once she had disappeared with a resounding pop, Draco made his way down the stairs calmly before freezing at the bottom step when he caught sight of unmistakably ginger red hair. He took a deep breath before taking the last step and walking next to his still stunned husband and placing a hand on his lower back.

 

"Are you alright, love?" he said into his ear, snapping the ravenette out of the daze he had found himself in. Harry looked at him quickly with eyes that screamed  _help me_  and Draco blew out a breath through his nose. "That would be a no then." He turned to the couple in front of him with a sneer and a raised eyebrow before leading Harry to the armchair nearest the fireplace then turning back to them with crossed arms, but a sneer still in place. "Did either of you actually  _need anything?_  Or maybe the plan was just to send my husband into shock?"

 

"Well we- uh- How's Scorpius?" Hermione said, always the bravest of the two of them.

 

"He's fine, thank you. Is that all? He's grounded, but his well being is safe if that is all you came to inquire about."

She nodded, but opened her mouth a few times while trying her best to look anywhere but at them. Ron was staring wide eyed at Harry's stomach, mouth gaping like a fish. It had been a while since they had seen each other to say the least. The Granger-Weasleys had been there for the wedding, of course they were, they had been Harry's best friends; Harry was the godfather of their children, but the darker man still hadn't gotten around to completely forgiving himself for what the frizzy-haired woman in front of them had put him through. He had tried. Merlin knows how hard he'd tried to.   

Draco was taken back to their honeymoon in the beach house when Harry had dropped in the middle of the kitchen while making breakfast to sob. The three of them had been friends for so long and even though the ceremony had gone smoothly he could tell the relationship between them all was tense. He couldn't just talk to Ron all the time, like things were normal because he was married to Hermione which meant the ravenette would have to see her again and he just hadn't been ready for that. Sure he had called him for help in class now and then, and Harry of course helped watch the kids, but if anything he avoided the Granger-Weasleys like the black plague. Now with those two standing in their living room around a Christmas tree that mimicked the last time (other than the wedding) where they had all been on good terms, he could tell it was tearing him apart.

"Listen, Mate," Ron started, looking at Harry. "We really are happy for you, alright. I was just surprised you didn't tell us, then I remembered you and 'Mione weren't talking and I actually had to drag her over here, because she thought one of you were going to hex her on site."

 

"I have nothing else to say to her, Weasley, so it was looking to be my next move," Draco spat back. Harry snorted then had to push himself up out of his seat in order to go forward and smack the back of his husband's head.

 

"Thank you, Ron, but I don't have anything else to say to her either. Thanks for stopping by, do you want to see the boys before you head back home?" The darker man wasn't looking at either of them.

 

"Harry can you just look at us please, I hate seeing you two like this. You're bloody miserable and it's making me bloody miserable. Every time I look at her, she's pouting." He put on a high pitched voice that didn't sound like Hermione at all, but got his point across. " _'Should I call him and apologize again? Maybe I should just stop by...Oh no he wouldn't want to see me'_  It's like you've divorced her.I'm telling you, mate, it's running me bloody ragged!"

 

"I get it, Ron, but I just need time to-"

 

"Oi, you've had time! You've had years worth of time. I know you've forgiven her or you wouldn't have invited us to the wedding, you're too bloody stubborn for that, and Mum would have been perfectly fine with you not inviting us if that was the case," Ron had said using his fingers to make his points. Draco decided that being an auror had been a good move for Weasley. Sure he still wasn't the most eloquent of the bunch, but he had sure grown much more confident when it came to getting what he wanted.

 

"Weasley, you don't think he knows all that? He forgave your wife ages ago. Now he needs time to adjust to that," snapped the blonde, running a hand through his own hair which he was determined to trim at his soonest convenience.

 

"Wait, what?"

 

"I'm-" Harry huffed out a breath before continuing. "It was just too easy! After what she had done, it was too easy to just forgive her. When you guys came to the wedding I was so happy, everything was back to how it was supposed to be, but then I thought about how it would have happened before if it hadn't been for Hermione, but then I couldn't stay mad at her. Now I'm just mad at myself, because I know I should be mad- I am sometimes, I just get  _so_ angry at you, 'Mione, but I just can't bring myself to stay that way. You're one of my best friends. And you hadn't tried to hurt me on purpose- I know that, I do... I just- I need time."

Both of his friends looked stunned but nodded as he turned around and headed back towards the stairs.

"Don't you dare get back in the bed, Potter! The boys are already at the table!" The blonde yelped, rushing over to the doorway to stop Harry from actually going back to bed.

 

"I'm going back to sleep, you git! Lock the floo and tell me how breakfast is without me!" his husband yelled back down at him.

 

"Prat!"

 

"Yeah, love you too," said the messy-haired man waving him off from the landing next to their bedroom door. Draco chuckled and rolled his eyes before remembering he still had company and letting the smile fall from his face.

 

"Anything else I can help you with before I feed my children?" Draco said not too kindly.

 

"Do you- could you possibly tell us what he's having?" Hermione said staring at him hopelessly and he almost let it slip how he had forgiven her too. How he admired the fact that she knew how bad she had hurt them, and worked thrice as hard to fix what she had broken.

 

"It's a girl. We want to name her Lily," he had nothing to be embarrassed about, but even so the blush on his cheeks couldn't be missed even as he looked down happily at the carpet beneath his toes with a small soft smile on his face.

 

"Congratulations," said the brown woman with a small smile of her own and he nodded his gratitude before clearing his throat and looking away.

 

"We're gonna go," Ron piped up.

 

"Yes, please. I do have a family to take care of."

 

"Look out for him, yeah?"

 

"He's my husband, you imbecile, of course I will."

 

"Merry Christmas, Malfoy.

 

"Get out of my house, Weasley."

The fire was green as they left and all Draco could think about was if his daughter would have Harry's eyes.


	18. -dieciocho-

**Christmas Eve**

 

Its hard for Draco to pinpoint the exact moment he was tired of being stuck in the manor even for Christmas. He thinks it had something to do with the Granger-Weasleys coming back with the rest of the Weasleys and their spouses and their children. They didn't come through the floo this time, which was great, but opening your front door and seeing an array of Weasleys that extended that far beyond his first step almost made him faint.

"Potter!" He screeched, leaving the door open and spinning around abruptly to go and find his husband. Obviously this was that raven haired git's fault. He stomped up the stairs deliberately, until he started hearing them letting themselves in and he broke into a miniature sprint up the rest of the stairs and flung their bedroom door open. "There are Weasleys in my house! My father is going to be here in less than an hour and there are Weasleys in the manor!"

 

"He's already met Ron and Hermione and their kids, remember? Last year," Harry says lowering the book on baby wizards and peeking questionably over the top as if Draco had lost it. The Weasley clan was in his house. _Of_ _course_ he'd lost it.

 

"Not the Granger-Weasleys, Potter. The entire bloody Weasley clan! There are generations of Weasleys down there. Oh, Merlin. They're downstairs." Harry had bolted off the bed as quickly as his body would allow, but the blonde didn't realize because he had put his head in his hands and let out a whine. "They're probably touching all of mother's good china."

 

"Draco, love," the darker man said calmly before snapping. " _Nobody_ wants your mother's sodding china! She probably doesn't even want it, considering it's in _our_ house!"

 

"Ha~arry!" He continued to whine. "It takes an entire day to let the charms set to elongate the table in the dining room. Can't you just tell them to leave?"

 

"No, I can't," huffed Harry moving towards the door before kissing his husband's cheek. He waddled towards the stairs before Draco pulled him back into the room. "If it was just Ron and 'Mione then maybe, but the Weasleys have always been there for me. I can't just turn them away..." he sighed. "I will let them know a thing or two about just inviting themselves over."

 

"Oh no," the blonde said once he had finally lifted his head up. "You are not going out there in your pajamas! Weasleys or no, my parents are still on their way."

 

"And what are they going to do, kick me out of the family?" Harry tried to argue, but he stomped back into the room and changed into a pair of jeans and his favorite Christmas jumper, that happened to be one Mrs. Weasley had knitted a few years prior a bit too large then. Even though he hadn't been talking to his best friend's, she still sent an owl. He stubbornly kept his bedroom shoes on. He was pregnant _and_ in his own home. "Your mother loves me. As for Lucius- well, he came to the wedding didn't he?"

 

"So did your friends," Draco mumbled under his breath before brushing past him into the corridor and down the stairs.

 

"Malfoy!" called the darker man clearly not done with the conversation, but also needing his husband's help to actually maneuver through the house, before wabbling after his frustrating blonde. The man in question simply rolled his eyes but stopped where he was on the steps to help his rounded husband down the rest of the stairs, careful to not miss the dip in the last one.

Scorpius was sitting on the couch practically a mile from Hugo who couldn't seem to get any closer without being blown back. The messy haired red-head looked disappointed, but not discouraged as he pushed forward harder, the parents started to notice the spark of magic as Hugo hit what seemed to be a wall. When the ravenette looked to the paler man for an explanation he only got a shrug of his shoulders prior to turning back towards his son.

"No magic, Scorpius. Grounded, remember? Talk through whatever the problem is," Draco turned as he spoke and had begun walking away just as he heard the sound of the floo followed by screaming. "Seven hells, my parents!"

 

"Father, Grandpère and Grandmère are here," said an embarrased Scorpius. "I'm going to die now." He burst from the room adjacent to the stairs and was headed up to his wing in a flash of blonde hair and tomato red blush.

 

"Draco, are you aware that there is a Weasley on your chaise?" Spoke Lucius Malfoy as he emerged from a warm brown room, brushing nonexisting dust from his jacket collar.

 

"And everywhere else in the house."

 

"And are you aware that Hyperion is ... _involved_ with this Weasley?"

 

"I am."

 

"Wait," Lucius looked up sharply as Draco stepped forward and kissed his mother on each cheek. "Everywhere else in the-" The younger blonde simply nodded before peeking an eye over at his husband. His father though, didn't realize because he was too busy letting out an undignified squeak. "B-but your _mother's china_!"

 

Just then there was the sound of a crash and glass shattering. Draco turned immediately to the sound and rushed off to see what had happened, Lucius on his heels. Narcissa simply smiled and stepped up, wrapping Harry into a hug, kissing him on each cheek.

"It's my husband's china and I hope they've broken all of it," Narcissa whispered conspiratorily in his ear and an even larger smile was on her face as she stepped away. "It's quite atrocious isn't it?"

 

Harry snorted out a laugh, but agreed as he responded. "I didn't want to be rude, but I've told Draco to just send it to you, if you loved it so much."

 

"So," she said looking pointedly down at his stomach then back into his eyes, serious yet lovingly. Harry almost cried at the motherly gesture. "How are you?"

 

"I'm good actually," he smiled at her. "I think you're the only person who looks at me like a person instead of a freak. I feel like even Draco is tiptoe-ing around me. Teddy is mad that no one told him sooner, but he keeps saying he's okay. Not to mention, both he and Scorp are both scared that something is going to happen to me, and-"

 

"The boy who lived never gets a break, huh?" she responded with a small smile as she looped her arm around his and started walking towards the kitchen where the voices had gotten the loudest. As they walked in that direction he noticed how Teddy had commandeered all the younger Weasleys into the main living room to hang around the tree and tell jokes. He smiled before looking back at Narcissa with a small shrug.

 

"You were there for the last break I had. It was a few stolen moments in the forbidden forest and I don't think I've slept right, since." He sent her a smile so she would know he was just (mostly) kidding and she nudged his shoulder lightly before agreeing.

 

"Neither have I. You know, Draco doesn't like to talk about it, but the summer you spoke at his trials he was beyond smitten, though he fell for Astoria soon after that, once he had convinced himself he could never have you. Now that he has you I don't think anything could keep him away again. He isn't tiptoe-ing because he's scared for you. It's because he's scared you're going to have his child and not want him anymore or worse than that, he's going to have you and lose you like he did with 'Stori."

He went to respond, but she shook her head and grabbed both of his heated cheeks and forced him to look at her before sending him another soft, familiar smile. She let go of his face then placed one soft hand on his abdomen and another on his lower back before whispering something under her breath causing his to release a huge sigh.

"Bloody- Thank you, what _was_ that?"

 

"An old spell for back pains. I do adore children. Such a shame I couldn't have as many as I wanted, but I'm also glad, because at least this way, they didn't all have to go through what he did..." she looked away from the tan man in a resemblance of silent horror. "I couldn't imagine having to worry about as many children as Molly did during the war and they didn't even all-" she looked at him pityingly and shook her head before smiling sadly at him. "We have to go and greet your other guests, dear. Wouldn't want them to think us rude, now would we?"

 

"No," he agreed. "We wouldn't want that." He sent her a small grateful smile, trying to keep his own sadness from weaving its way into his eyes.


	19. -diecinueve-

**[Still] Christmas Eve**

"Harry!" Molly Weasley says as she quickly and happily hobbles over to him with a slight limp before wrapping him into a motherly hug. "We should have owled first, I know, but when I asked Ron why you weren't coming to dinner for Christmas _again_ , he said you were pregnant and I told everyone we just had to bring dinner to you!" She looked so happy to see him and it made a smile work its way onto his face as well.

"It's good to see you lot too, Molly." He quickly glanced down at her leg then back up at her face.

 

"Oh! A bludger fell on my foot at the last backyard game when I went to call everyone in for lunch," She said blushing.

 

"Molly, you should be resting!"

 

"I'm fine, dear. Baking _is_ how I rest. I'm here for you today, Harry." She giggled happily. "Another grandchild! Congratulations to you both by the way," she said looking over to where Draco was standing watching his father who had yet to even acknowledge Harry's existence.

 

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Draco said, proper as usual.

 

"Draco, dear, how many times have I told you to call me Molly?"

 

"Not enough, it seems," he says with a small smile as he nods politely in her direction.

 

"Well while I have you in here, would you mind helping me prepare some desserts? I saw you had already made dinner. I can go pick some things up from the house if it isn't quite enough, but I want to spend time with my family," she looked at Harry pointedly. "All of them."

 

"Ahem," Lucius cleared his throat and looked in Arthur's direction. "Shall the grandfathers go and have a drink then?" He offered through clenched teeth. Mr. Weasley narrowed his eyes for a moment as if sizing Lucius up in his own family home before smiling at whatever he found and agreeing wholeheartedly. They both left the room and Harry was immediately turning on his husband.

"That wasn't your father," Harry decided immediately. "There was a man in our kitchen who looked like Lucius Malfoy, but was certainly not him, by any stretch of the imagination."

 

"Mother has been working with him." The pale man shrugged lightly with a smirk. "Old dogs can be forcibly taught new tricks, you know?"

 

"You said he couldn't be in Lily's life if he didn't play nice, didn't you?" Harry said through a snort.

 

"Not in so many words," Draco said with a sinister grin, from across the counter as he pushed his sleeves up and smiled at the ravenette.

 

"I love you, did you know?"

 

"No, surprisingly, I did not," responded the blonde sarcastically. "Now get out of the kitchen, Potter. Mother, Molly and I are busy."

 

"I'm going, I'm going..." He rolled his eyes before speaking again and heading out. "I'm glad you're here, Molly."

 

"Glad to be here."

He walked out of the kitchen and made a shard turn into the dinning room where he stopped almost immediately when he noticed the number of voices in the room and how they all seemed to stop when he entered.

"Stopping whatever you were saying midsentence doesn't stop me from knowing that you were talking about me," he said annoyed before turning to walk out of the room towards where one of the sitting rooms were. "Don't even worry about it though, I was just heading back up to my bedroom until dinner was ready. I hope you all enjoy yourselves or- uh- yeah."

"Harry James Potter," said Ginny standing up angrily. "If you don't bring your pregnant arse over here right now I am going to send a bat bogey so strong not even Mum will be able to reverse it." He slowly turned and walked over to her looking down at the ground because he didn't know what he was going to do. When he finally peeked up at her, she punched his shoulder before throwing herself in his direction, wrapping her arms around him. "You fucking idiot, I've missed you! Just because you're mad at them doesn't mean you shut the rest of us out."

 

"I missed you too, Gin," he voice wavered and he gripped her even tighter and laid his forehead down onto her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

 

"Don't get your tears on my shirt, you bloody hormone factory." She pushed him off playfully until he was at arms length before pulling him back in, rubbing his back and whispering: "I'm happy for you. Congratulations."

 

"Thanks, Gin."

 

"Ya know, I tore both of them a new one, whether you wanted me to or not."

At this Harry laughed heartily and finally let her go, though he walked just as uneasily as before to the table and sat next to George and Angelina who were grabbing handfuls of cashews from the bowl on the table and throwing them at each other, only for the house elves to continuously pop in and out to pick up whichever ones fell on the floor. Percy was in Draco's public office (the git said it was obviously to be for guest use), probably cataloging all of the old family tomes he kept in there. His wife was with the kids who had all rushed outside moments ago when Charlie finally arrived with a baby dragon that refused to leave his side (Harry noted this only because this time he wasn't the one to bring one).

Bill would be arriving later, but Fleur was happily fluttering through the house noting any changes Harry had made in the last few years. She had grown to love Draco's family and their (apparently very French) ancestral home. Needless to say he had seen more of her than any of the other Weasleys since the wedding and outside of school. Hermione and Ron sat away from the group whispering angrily at each other. He looked longingly in their direction, but he knew he needed time, he had told them that and he was sure that if he knew his best friend's well enough they were both tearing themselves up about barging in on him like this. He hadn't been sitting for very long, nor had any had the chance to congratulate him other than Ginny, he took a deep breath before standing back up and walking towards them.

"You know, I'm not blaming either of you for this," he said once he was a few feet from them, with his hands in his pockets, decidedly not looking at them as he spoke. "I know how Molly can get, bless her." He shrugged. "You don't have to worry about arguing over my feelings or how sensitive I can be or whatever. I'm fine." He motioned around himself to the situation and shrugged again. "It's fine. The only plans for today were lying in until Lucius and Narcissa came in, so I mean the day is more exciting at least. The boys aren't so moody with this many people around so..." He shrugged again and nodded when he felt like he had shrugged enough.

"We are sorry though, Mate," Ron said pleadingly. "That's the thing, I didn't even know if you were going to tell my family, but then Mum asked and I slipped up. You shouldn't have to deal with us continuously barging in on you." The red head was scratching the back of his head in obvious discomfort when Harry finally felt brave enough to glance over at the couple.

"No, I mean- I did it all the time when you two first got married, I was so used to it being the three of us. Even with me being mad at 'Mione, I expected way more visits after the wedding, because you guys used to pop up all the time at Number 12. Probably especially when I didn't want to see you." He took in a deep breath. "What I mean to say is: just drop by whenever, even if you're just dropping off the kids or something during the summer. I'm sure Scorpius and Teddy would be thrilled, if anything."

Before either of them could respond again there was a high pitched wailing coming from the backyard before Fleur was up and angrily stomping towards the field.

"Vic- I zwear if diz iz just ano'der trick-!" The door swung shut behind her with a slam, cutting off the rest of her sentence, but the situation was enough to lighten the mood and leave everyone in a bit of a giggly fit.

"Vic has been faking fever on and off for the last few days, trying to get Fleur to teach her how to awaken her Veela inheritance. No one is even sure if she has enough of it to awaken in the first place," supplied George with a half grin that even years later Harry knew made everyone uneasy. He smiled back and forced a laugh along with everyone else.

An hour later, once everyone had arrived and the table had been charmed to be almost three times as long as it originally was, everyone moved to be seated around an array of food just as vast as that of the Great Hall. The table's occupents looked towards Molly, Narcissa, and Draco, who were, for lack of a better word, preening under the attention, though they waved off all praise as food was tasted and passed around and shared and spilled and flung and- _ting-ting-ting._

Narcissa stood at the head of the table and bowed her head at everyone before sitting her flute back onto the table cloth.

"I wanted to thank everyone for being here. Even though none of you were partciularly invited, it is lovely to have all of the family together." There was a soft smile on her face and Harry was reminded of earlier that evening when she had mentioned how much she had wanted a big family with lots of children. "We have all had our fair share of disagreements, and most of them left you all broken, and I am so terribly sorry, but to see you all here now-" She blinked a few times and looked down at the table before blowing out a breath and standing proudly again. "I'm just glad to see you all here for Harry and Draco."

Everyone clapped, a few smiled and jokingly responded to pull laughs from everyone else, but Draco gripped Harry's hand tightly for a moment and wouldn't let go. When the ravenette looked up he saw that George was staring unblinkingly at his reflection in one of the pitchers of juice on the table. Angelina was whispering in his ear, but he wasn't responding. The only indication that he made that he had heard her or anything else was the fact that he blinked a few times before pushing his chair back and leaving the room without looking back.

The table broke into chaos after that.

"Dad," whispered Scorpius from beside the darker man. "Why did Mr. George leave?" Harry gulped before looking down the table at everyone else who had gone quiet or who were murmuring to each other, then to the other end where Narcissa was shocked into silence before stuttering (for the first time Harry had ever heard) an apology to Molly and Arthur.

 

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

 

"It's alright," Arthur tried to say.

 

"No it isn't, I overstepped. I was just- I shouldn't have said-"

 

"It wasn't you, Narcissa," Molly said, placing a hand on the paler woman's cheek forgivingly. "It would have happened at some point tonight. He gets like this during the holidays. The whole family is together and he catches a glimpse of himself smiling and he has to remind himself it's just his reflection and then he gets all torn up about it. He's bound to. Don't blame yourself. Not today."

 

"You remember when your father told you that one of Ron's brothers were dead?" Harry said quietly into his son's ear as the two women stood from the table in search of the twinless Weasley and help him. The blonde boy nodded at him and he was taken back to another time when Scorpius was smaller and all wide eyes and goofy smiles with missing teeth and too many words with all the wrong syllables and he couldn't help it as his voice cracked. "He and George were twins."

 

"Twins?" Scorpius asked, more in awe than in any sort of questioning way.

 

"Yeah," said Harry not too invested in the conversation anymore. "Twins."


	20. -veinte-

**Christmas Day: 12:00am**

"You know Mother didn't say that stuff intentionally," said Draco once everyone had left and they were lying in bed alone. "She was actually enjoying having everyone here. She hates when the house is empty- especially during the holidays."

"Yeah, I know. No one was blaming her." Harry rolled over to face him and reached out a hand to lay on his cheek softly. It's just best that it's only the family when George gets like that though. We all take time to process stuff differently, he just usually chooses not to because it's easier that way..."

 

"It's my fault, you realize? That his holidays are ruined for the rest of his life."

 

"We aren't going down that path," the darker man said, taking his glasses off laying then on the nightstand on his side of the bed (pre-pregnancy was Draco's side). The blonde flipped over so he was facing the wall. He didn't need any reassurement, he knew what he had done. He knew that didn't make him a bad person, but it did make him worth a hell of a lot of blame, whether Harry wanted to think about it that way or not. "Draco, look at me."

Draco didn't look at him and instead breathed out a few puffs of soft breath and let his body relax a little bit more. The man behind him shoved at his back in frustration.

"I know you're not sleep."

 

"If I were you would have woken me up anyway, you great barbarian." When the darker man seemed like he was going to open his mouth to say something else Draco intervened a little more forcefully than strictly necessary. "Look, I don't want to talk about this, Potter."

 

"Fine," said his husband with his own huff before rolling so they were both facig away from each other and without another word the lights in there room were extinguished.

 

\--:--

 

**2:37am**

Harry was forcing himself up into a sitting position on the side of the bed for about the fourth time in the last couple of hours. This would have been fine, if he didn't have to jostle the entire sodding bed everytime so that Draco had to be up with him.

"You know, I thought I'd actually get some sleep before being surrounded by Weasleys and my parents again," he threw out angrily, putting the pillow over his face to block out the sliver of light coming from the slightly cracked open door that seemed to direct the light right into his eyes.

"Yeah, well I never thought I'd be pregnant so I guess we were both wrong, eh?" said the bespectacled man from the bathroom as the toilet flushed and he washed his hands. He turned off the light before climbing back into the bed and slipping into the blanket, placing his round glasses onto the side table yet again.

"Oh, let it go. You were happy when you found out, admit it."

 

"I was surprised as all hell..." he turned over at his husband's scoff and grabbed his waist, pulling him as closely as he could with a protruding belly between them. "But I can't say I wasn't happy to hear it."

Draco turned over to face him and placed his hands on the protrusion before leaning in to kiss him. Once their lips had parted they both lied there staring into each other's eyes in the darkened room with content smiles on their face until a firm but trepid knock sounded against their door.

"Ahem," said the quiet and uncomfortable voice of Lucius Malfoy as he pushed the door open an inch to allow his lumos tipped wand to light up his face through the small space. "Draco, your mother and I require...assistance with the presents."

 _They brought too many_ , he mouthed at Harry.

"It seems we may have brought too many..."

Draco's forehead fell against Harry's shoulder and the ravenette had to forcibly stop himself from laughing too loudly.

"Potter, stop snickering!" Lucius whisper yells from the door sending Harry into another fit of laughter. He shoved his husband off of him.

"Go help your parents. I'm going to try to go back to sleep, yeah?" Harry sat up just long enough for Draco to kiss his lips and storm off, before he flopped back onto the bed and nodded off.

 

\--:--

 

**8:19am**

There was a timid knock on the door before a stream of light came in as the door was pushed open and Scorpius entered with his head down.

"Merry chistmas, Papa." He said quietly. "Are you coming downstairs?"

 

"Merry Christmas, Scorp. I'll be down in a bit." When the boy turned to leave Harry spoke again. "Actually, do you mind coming here for a second?"

 

"Did something happen? Do you n-need help? D-do you want me to go get Dad? I can go ge-"

 

"I don't need your father right now, I just want to talk to you for a little while. C'mon." He tossed the blanket over Draco's side of the bed and patted on top of the comforter before getting comfortable again and laying his head on his pillow. Scorpius lingered by the door as if he wanted to opt out of this conversation. He knew it was about his attitude recently. He knew he was being crazy. He knew that. If that was what his papa wanted to talk about, they were already on the same page. He took a deep breath and walked over to the bed before climbing onto his father's side of the bed then sitting with his back to the headboard and his knees pulled to his chest.

"Hi," the boy said once he had placed his chin on his knees and looked over to find his dad looking at him sleepily.

 

"Hey, Scorp," Harry chuckled. "What's up? And don't say nothing. You've been avoiding Teddy and Draco and everyone else."

 

"You mean 'and you'?" The boy said stubbornly not looking at him.

 

"No, I mean you didn't even want Hugo near you yesterday."

 

"So?"

 

"I mean, it was _Hugo_."

 

"Yea-"

 

"Hugo _Weasley_."

 

"Yeah, I kn-"

 

"Goofy redhead kid with the freckles and the loud mouth."

 

"I know who Hugo is, Papa."

 

"Your _boyfriend_ Hugo."

 

"He's not my boyfriend anymore."

 

"You and Hu broke up? Is that why you were so upset?"

 

"Not exactly," the boy finally confessed before looking away from his dad. "Uh- I kind of realized that Nick might like me."

 

"Okay..." The ravenette man said questioningly.

 

"And I may like him too."

 

"So you broke up with Hu so you can get together with Nick?" Harry tried to simplify.

 

"No. I-" The young blond shook his head. "I mean, I still like Hugo."

 

"And Hugo still likes you?" Asked the grown man who had turned to face his son completely, propping his head up on his hand.

 

"Yes."

 

"Okay, now I'm confused."

 

"They both like me," Scorpius said turning to look at the dark haired man as if he was missing it, while motioning his arms to make his point.

 

"Still confused."

 

"And I like both of them."

 

"Was that supposed to make me less confused?"

 

"I broke up with Hugo because I don't know what else to do. I like both of them. I don't- I can't- I shouldn't like both of them. That's weird, right?" He looked like he was on the verge of breaking down.

"Well, I- er- wouldn't call it a usual situation," Harry said while blushing and Scorpius' lip began to tremble and the man tried to fight his own embarrasment to help his son feel better. "But I wouldn't say it's completely unheard of."

 

"It's not right to like both of them this much...I'm supposed to have to choose, right? I didn't want to choose so I didn't."

 

"If you don't want to choose, Scorp, you don't have to. But you also shouldn't think any less of yourself for wanting more...for liking both of them. You can do that, it's not weird. You're weird, but this isn't what makes you weird. Trust me. I know exactly how you feel right now." When the boy's tear filled eyes met his he smiled softly and sat up before pulling his son into a hug. "You will get through this."

 

"You're supposed to say all that stuff, you're my dad," The boy said through a sniffle with a small smile.

 

"No, I'm supposed to say that, because I've been where you are right now. Though I didn't consider it until I was in fourth year so you're a little ahead of schedule," he joked, pulling the boy back to hold him at arms length and check his face.

"Really?"

 

"Oh yeah. Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang."

 

"Professional Seeker for the Falmouth Falcons, _Cho Chang_?"

 

"Yeah, they were a year ahead of your father and I back in Hogwarts."

 

"And you- uh...you liked both of them?"

 

"I did."

 

"So what did you do?"

 

"I dated them."

 

"Both of them?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"At the same time?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Did they know?"

 

"Well yes," Harry said through a laugh as Scorpius looked at him astounded. "They were dating each other at the time too. We were in what could be known as a- uhm- 'Mione was always good at knowing the names of things..."

 

"So what happened? Between the three of you?"

 

"We uh..." the small smile that had been on his face fell and he blinked groggily a few times.

"Papa?" Scorpius said concerned.

 

"Yeah, I'm- Cedric died. Voldemort murdered him. I had to watch him murder my boyfriend and I couldn't do anything to stop it...Cho and I kind of separated after that we couldn't really be around each other. We were happier together, yeah, but we were sadder too. We both knew something- someone -was missing..." He shrugged. "Cho invites me out to her games sometimes, but I haven't been able to go recently," he chuckled motioning down at himself. "For obvious reasons."

 

"I'm sorry," the boy said suddenly and Harry looked down at him and tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows.

 

"For what?"

 

"For being such a brat. I could have- I should have just come and talked to you or dad and instead I was acting like you were all out to get me and I snapped at Teddy and Hugo and everyone else who even looked in my direction." He shrugged sadly and pulled his knees back up into their original position. Harry nudged them down before forcing himself to sit up properly and ease himself off the bed.

"No worries, brat, it's Christmas, all is forgiven. Now let's go have breakfast and open your presents." When the blond boy was standing by his side, quite tall for his age, he threw an arm over his shoulder and ruffled his hair. "C'mon, before the Weasleys come back and your Granddad has an aneurysm."


	21. -veintiuno-

**Christmas Day: 12:00pm**

As Teddy and Scorpius both opened the last of their gifts they ran around the room to throw their arms around any and everyone present for a hug. Scorpius with a lot more patience and Malfoy grace than his hufflepuff brother. Both Narcissa and Lucius were awestruck when the boys smacked into them for hugs. Lucius patted each of their heads and Narcissa kissed their foreheads. It had become something of second nature, really.

Scorpius had received potion ingredients and wand cleaner and books galore- all things Draco would have been confused about had he not known how curious and ready to learn his son was. Teddy had gotten journals and a 2,000 galleon quill set, not to mention all the brooms and quidditch gear they both got to share. It was clear that the boys were loved.

When it was time for dinner, Arthur and Lucius were each sat on opposite ends of the table, the rest of the two (extended) families dispersed in between them. As soon as everyone was seated there was a distinguishing pop and the table was covered in an array of food.

"The food looks great, Harry," George said, not looking up from his empty plate. He seemed more reserved today and it was the only time he had talked all afternoon.

Those of them around the table who knew where the dinner really came from, snorted while Draco huffed indignantly.

"Draco, Molly, and Narcissa were the ones who made dinner, actually. I got better at cooking, sure, but not this good," said Harry through a chuckle. He looked over at his husband and smiled, placing a hand on his stomach as a quick pain caused him to shift positions in his seat. His comment made George's head snap up.

"Malfoy can cook?" He seemed to gasp before a small smile slid onto his freckled face and he glanced down for a moment before looking back up with wet eyes at the slightly blushing blonde. "I owe Fred 5 knuts." He chuckled which almost immediately turned to laughter with tears streaming down his face. Angelina rubbed his back with a sad smile of her own. "I've been sort of a buzzkill, yeah?"

 

"Didn't think you were going to figure it out," Ginny said tossing a biscuit at him.

 

"We know you miss him," Percy said quietly, but it seemed like a shout in the quiet afterwards, not looking away from his glass of iced tea. Harry knew Percy thought it should have been him that died instead of his brother. Sure he had been doing the right thing, but he had thought Fred had more to live for.

 

"We all miss him," Ron added, being very un-Ron-like by trying to stare his older brother in the eye. No one really looked directly at George since then, especially during holidays, and it had been more than 10 years. The only exceptions were Ginny, Charlie and the kids who didn't know they were supposed to be missing his other half- mourning his face. The lone twin took a deep breath through his nose and looked around at his family who were all making a point to look back.

 

"Stop being so dramatic, you lot. We're here, because it's Christmas and our boy is round as a bludger! Not to mention it just hasn't been Christmas at our house without— Harry." He sent everyone a goofy smile and they all could hear Molly choke back a sob though there was a wide smile on her face, but no one questioned it. She deserved to have a good cry if she wanted. "No, let's eat!" George cheered good naturedly, before reaching forward and starting to fill Angelina's plate while she fixed plates for their kids.

 

\--:--

 

**3:17pm**

"So, I'm sitting there, dragon dung dripping from my hair, a baby horntail wrapped around my shoulders, when I get a howler dropped just in front of me. I go to open it and it's from Mum, completely in a panic. 'Harry's pregnant!' she wouldn't stop bloody screaming," he said with a smile towards his mother and his adoptive raven-haired brother. "'What do we do!? We have to go over there! Don't come to the burrow we wont be here! Come straight to Malfoy Manor!' See it isn't as rare for blokes over there to get pregnant, they're more in tune with nature or something. I still didn't know what to do, I study the mating rituals of dragons, not wizards. But try telling her that in a panic, eh?"

Everyone laughed and Molly only looked slightly sheepish as she showed Narcissa how she knit sweaters. She had made one for everyone this year, including Lucius and Narcissa. Draco's mother was quite in awe of the soft fabric and how the emblazoned white N looked almost sparkling in the pale blue of the rest of the garment, while his father sat angrily pouting into his second tumbler of firewhiskey in a dark navy sweater housing a pale green L on its front.

Even the potrait of Draco's great great great Grandmother Madeleine mentioned how Lucius looked very distinguished in his Christmas garments, though he should grow his hair more, he was a married Malfoy after all, hair should be as long and strong as his marriage. He threw back his drink and left the room to get another.

"How come your sweater doesn't have a letter on it," Draco asked as he and Harry sat cuddled together on the chaise closest to the tree, with a view of everyone in their vast sitting space. Harry laughed at the question before answering.

 

"Well she feels like she has to make one for me every year, but she also has to make one for 'Mione and one year she sent us the wrong sweaters," he chuckled as Draco looked at him in unconcealed awe and humor.

 

"You in a cropped sweater? Oh, this I absolutely have to see."

 

"No, you absolutely do not," the man snorted into his plain eggnog. "And anyway, from then she just started putting other _things_ on my sweaters. She doesn't repeat the same thing twice. Always interesting to see what she thinks up every year." He looked down and smiled at the baby bump that was distorting the stitched baby bottle that adorned the front of his warm green sweater.

They looked around happily as they watched all the kids sitting happily on the rug playing with their toys while the older kids sat in the corner showing off the magic they've learned. The boys were off punishment, mostly because Harry explained to his husband what had happened and after he had angrily told him that it didn't matter what was going on, what mattered was that Scorpius learned not to take it out on other people, he agreed that the lesson had been well received. The boys apologized anyways without being asked. They didn't like being on the outs anymore than their dads did.

The happiness of the moment was like a blanket of magic that seemed to be flowing over the group and Harry sucked in a breath when he felt a particularly hard kick from his belly followed by a rougher contraction than he had been feeling all day.

It wasn't too long after that, that he yelped at the fact that his water had indeed broken.

 

\--:--

 

**4:44pm**

Harry had been moved to the bed. He was lying down, taking in huge breaths through clenched teeth.

"It's happening!!" screeched Draco excited yet nervous as he swished his wand and watched things fly out of their drawers and into a travel bag with an extension charm on it. "We haven't even prepared yet! Bloody fucking hell, the healer isn't due until tomorrow! Lily isn't even due for a few MONTHS!"

Harry rolled his eyes as his husband continued to panic.

"I know that, and you know that, Not quite sure _she_ knows, or cares."

He took another deep breath as more pain surged through him for a second before he was soothed with magic again, as if the baby wanted to come out, but didn't want to hurt him.

"I just-" Draco paused and looked at him worried. "This isn't bad thing, right? She's okay, right?"

 

"It was probably all the familiar magic. Lots of happy and familiar magic can induce wizard labor," Hermione said calmingly, letting herself into their room to assist Harry, carrying a glass of water,  while Ron was begrudgingly helping Draco pack hospital gear. She smiled at the man on the bed before brushing his messy black hair from being stuck to his sweaty forehead. "Everything's going to be great, I promise."

 

"Yeah," Harry said with his eyes squeezed shut, forcing himself to breathe through the pain of another contraction. "Giving birth. Should be great," he agreed sarcastically once the pain had ebbed away. Hermione plucked his forehead and he smiled up at her. She handed him the glass after helping him sit up a little.

"Why did you say anything before," she chided him in that motherly way he missed with her hands on her hips. "You could have told us you'd been having contractions all day!"

 

"The pamphlets the healer gave me said that the expecting witch or wizard should ' _continue as normal until the pain was unbearable_ '. The pain wasn't unbearable so I didn't bother." He took a few gulps of water and shrugged as he set the glass down and went to push himself up. "I'm fine. I can pack my own overnight bag, for Godric's sake." He couldn't help but huff when Hermione stood in his way with her arms crossed.

"Let Draco and Ron pack the bags. You, save up your energy. Trust me when I say you're going to need it."

 

It took him a moment, but he sat back down on the side of the bed with a sigh and placed both hands on his round stomach before whispering:

"We're going to see you soon, little one."


	22. -veintidós-

**__December 26: 12:35am**

"Seven hells," Teddy said with his head thrown back as he marched back and forth across St. Mungos waiting room. "How long does it take to have a bloody baby!" Both he and Scorpius had been here for hours, watching as their family and friends came and went.

 

"Do you really want to know," Hermione said as she stopped on her way past them, walking to Harry's hospital room while Ron came into the lobby and sat next to Scorpius who had his head in his hands, not looking at anyone. He looked at her as in a silent whine as if she shoukd have known better than to ask.

 

"'Mione, you should know better than anyone. I mean, why would I ask a question I didn't want an answer to?" Teddy was still pacing, but his eyebrows were furrowed as he waited for an answer. She shot him a look as he walked by and he froze under her focused gaze, but did not back down. She rolled her eyes but motioned for Ron to explain and continued down the hall.

 

"She left me alone to give Rose and Hu the sex talk too," Ron said slightly annoyed. "They're your kids too, Ronald," he said in a voice that was clearly meant to mimic Hermione. "But you two aren't my kids, are ya? I mean, you're as good as, but you aren't, you're Harry's. So ya know what? I refuse. We aren't having this conversation. You can just wait for her to explain when she gets back." He threw one leg over the other before ruffling Scorpius' hair and grabbing a magazine off of the many tables in the lobby. "I don't even know half the things she want me to say. I don't understand the magic theory of pregnancy. Especially for blokes. I mean where would a baby even-"

 

"In the case of natural birth the anal cavity becomes the birthing canal," says Scorpius as if he's been waiting for someone to unload all this information onto. Ron peeks nervously over the top of his magazine and Teddy gives up his search for an answer with a huff.

 

\--:--

 

Harry lied on the hospital bed in St. Mungos Witch Delivery ward with his knees spread apart and his legs pulled up almost folding him in half. He almost immediately realized that this is the most vulnerable he had ever felt. Draco was next to him holding his hand while Hermione stood over him with a cool towel, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"So, what did you both decide Mr. & Mr. Potter?" asked Healer Harper. "Will it be a natural birth or a calling?"

 

"Knowing what the bloody hell a calling is would make the decision loads easier," Harry remarked, uncomfortably bare and open. The healer only nodded before swishing her wand and pulling a pamphlet out of thin air for them to follow along with her explanation.

"A natural birth is what we've covered before, but since you've been magically induced I would recommend a calling. This is like a sort of magic cord. There are two types of calling births. There is encapsulated calling which pulls the child and the womb out as one so that the child can be treated with any premature spells with a protective layer around them. Then there is carried calling, which will tug the child free and the womb will fall out over the next few days. It works mostly like a baby magnet, so to speak." She used her hands a lot as she spoke and they all nodded along. "One healer will work with stretching the birth canal and another will focus on delivery extraction."

Harry looked at Draco for a second then thought about himself before speaking. He didn't want to put anyone through any extra Streisand he knew he didn't need it either. Draco staying there watching him be in pain wasn't something he wanted for his husband.

"I-" he sucked in a breath for a moment as he was struck with a particularly strong contraction. "I think we'll be going with the calling. The- uh...the first one! The er...inter-enty-"

 

"The encapsulated calling?" says Healer Harper.

 

"Exactly," agrees Harry. "That thing."

 

" _That thing,_ " Draco scoffs teasingly and Harry has to stop himself from elbowing his husband in the groin.

 

"An assistant healer will come in to have you both sign the wavers for it and then myself and another Healer will be back to begin." She looks over him and his chart while she speaks before shrugging and walking over to the door. "The procedure shouldn't take longer than an hour. We will, of course, keep you and your baby girl over night to make sure each of your vitals are okay, but you should be back home by tomorrow morning. Congratulations again, Mr. Potter."

 

\--:--

 

"Granger," says Draco when the healers started their wandwork and the frizzy-haired woman had moved closer to the door. "Don't you dare walk out that door."

She turned to him with wide eyes and when she noticed how scared he looked she nodded. He was being brave for Harry, but who was supposed to be brave for him? She stepped up and moved over to run her hands through Harry's hair as the ravenette continued to try to calm his breathing, before sending a smile to the nervous man beside her. He nodded solemnly at her then looked towards Harry's stained face then to the healers who were just as focused. She stared at him and just like at his and Harry's wedding she thought about the mistake she made of forcing him out of her best friend's life when he clearly cared for him so much.

"Mr. Pot- Harry," Healer Harper says softly and Draco thinks something must be wrong for her to be talking so plainly but she raises the band not wielding a wand in a placating gesture. "I'm going to need you to push for me and Healer Godwin, alright? On three."

_One._

 

_Two._

 

_Three._

 

Harry pushed and felt that constant abdominal pressure slowly ease away until with a squelching noise he would have otherwise thought was unhealthy, there was his womb, floating in the air between Healers Harper and Godwin. They sent a quick cleaning charm in his direction because he had, in fact, shit himself from all the pushing. He was too tired to feel embarrassed, but they assured him it was normal anyway. They lowered his legs and allowed him a more covering sheet to lay comfortably over him. Once they turned their attention to the womb and began muttering vital checking spells, Draco got antsy. He was still gripping Harry's hand, but he was fidgeting with the darker man's knuckles to the point of annoyance and Harry was just about to tell him so when Healer Godwin looked at them with surprise. As if he were seeing them for the first time.

The womb had sunk from above their heads to just near their midsection so they could finish the procedure. They performed excessive cleaning charms on each other before slowly using a spell to cut open a slit in the gooey tissue.

"Congratulations," says both Healer Harper and Healer Godwin, taking turns reaching into the slimy looking pouch and each pulling out a small but healthy, crying, warm brown skinned baby girl.

 

"Holy hell," says Draco in awe.

 

"T-twins!" yelps Harry understanding Healer Godwin's awe, before bursting into tears.

 

"Would the father like to cut the cords?" Healer Harper asks looking at Draco with the only smile he had probably ever seen her wear genuinely. He nods and walks over to join Healer Godwin who shows him how to cast the spell as the crying calms down for a second. He turns to his girls and is still slightly shocked by that before raising his wand with a slow sort of unrestrainable smile.

 

" _Puer secare liberum_ ," he says softly, slicing the air with small and precise movements. The healers smile at him again and he starts the cry because when Scorpius was born no one even wanted to look at him and now here he was with an ever-growing family and people who wanted to see his reaction to being treated like a father. When he turned back to Harry he saw that Hermione had left the room to give them some time alone and for once he was thankful for her quick thinking.

The healers did a few more vital checking spells on the infants before doing another round of spells to make sure the lungs of each girl was clear before handing one to each parent.

"We'll be back to fill in birth certificates and take them out for feeding and bathing while you rest."

 

"Brilliant," says Harry looking down at the soft bundle of warmth in his arms. The paler man beside him, who hadn't looked at anyone since his youngest daughter had been placed in his arms, asked a question, but seemed like he already knew the answer would be no.

 

"Er- would they be able to spend the night in the room with us?"

It was a quiet unsure question and Harry peeked at his husband from beneath his lashes in a continual state of awe at the situation around him. The healers didn't moss a beat.

 

"Of course," said Godwin. "But we'll still be back for feeding and bathing. Someone will be along shortly to bring in two bassinets for these two lovely ladies to lie in. Congratulations again."

Healers Harper and Godwin walked out and the two men in the room couldn't help but smile at each other as they held their baby girls in their arms.

"Twins," says Harry softly in reverence.

 

"Twins," agrees Draco with just as much tenderness in his voice.

 

"Anita Lily," says Harry suddenly before snorting. "I-need-a Lily, get it."

 

"That was beautiful before you went and budged it up," says Draco with a playful smile before ignoring him. "Anita and- Lyra. Like the star, you know? Lyra Narcissa."

 

"Our girls," whispers Harry before kissing Anita's forehead.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise!!!
> 
> i mean, twins were the plan all along, but i couldn't decide on names  
> sooooo here are a few I had
> 
> Lily Luna & Molly Narcissa   
> Pansy Lily & Luna Narcissa  
> Lily Jane & Narcissa Lucy  
> Lyra Lily & Carina Narcissa  
> Pyxis Lily & Ara Narcissa  
> Luna Lily & Lyra Narcissa
> 
> \-- luci xoxo


	23. -veintitrés-

"Is Pops ever coming back to work?" Scorpius asked, looking up at his father as he sat upside down on the lounge in Draco's office.

"I'm busy, Hyperion. Why don't you floo call and ask him?" Draco wasn't angry at his son, he was just feeling more than a bit snappish because he had the same bloody question for his husband. Harry had taken leave for...well for obvious reasons. They had two, magical, tiny, twin terrors who were well under two months old and needed constant attention.

 _We'll make Malfoy's of them, yet!_ Father had whispered excitedly when they spit up all over his Christmas sweater, a few days ago when they had all been invited to dinner at the burrow and Mother insisted he wear it.

"I did," said Scorpius in response, not noticing his father's foul mood at the situation. "He said to ask you and if you didn't know for you to go ask Professor McGonagal to see how long he's allowed to be out."

 

"Of course he did," Draco murmured sarcastically, not pulling his eyes or attention away from marking parchment essays. "What if I don't and say I did?"

 

"D~ad," whined the slightly shorter blonde.

Draco looked up at him pointedly this time. "Shouldn't you be in your common room or the library doing your homework?"

 

"I'm avoiding Nick," the boy admitted.

 

"Avoiding Nick? What did he do? I thought things were fine. He and Nat came to the manor to visit, were they there to see your Papa and I? I brought all of you back to the castle together, was-"

 

"No!" Scorpius' blush was disguised by the fact that the blood had been flowing to his head from laying upside down anyway and quickly sat up straight. "I'm fine W-we're fine. I mean, they're f-f-fine. I have to go." Without another word he was out the door only to peep back in with a: "Call Papa!" before he was off again.

"You don't tell me what to do," Draco mumbles to himself, yet he still stands and moves towards his fireplace to call his husband.

 

\--:--

 

"Draco?" Harry asks, peeping at his husband through the flames of their sitting room fireplace.

"Potter, when do you expect you'll be back at work?"

 

"Honestly?"

 

"No, of course not. I expected you to lie to me."

 

"I don't think I am," the messy haired man says in a rush. "At least no time soon. I'm thinking of doing something else until the girls are old enough for primary or home school or whatever..."

 

"And you didn't think you should tell me you felt this way?" asked a stunned Draco. "I- I thought you _liked_ teaching."

 

"I've been meaning to tell you and well..." Harry was nervous but had a way of forcing himself through that sounded strained but confident all the same. The paler man had been trying to figure out how he did it for years now. "Teaching isn't the problem. You're right," he concedes. "I _do_  like it. I bloody _love_ teaching, but we stay at the castle and I can't- I don't want to be that far from the girls for so long when they're so young."

 

"Harry, you know I understand. It tears me up being here knowing that you guys are there, but I trust you to tell me what's going on. You can't keep stuff life this from me." He paused for a minute, thinking back on every other time he had asked Harry about coming back to work only for the man to avoid the topic altogether if he could help it. "How long have you known?"

 

"Draco-"

 

"Potter, how long have you known you weren't coming back to Hogwarts?" asked the blonde trying to keep his composure. Through Harry's pregnancy he had learned to be the calmer of the two of them. To not blow up about things. That didn't mean it was always easy. Especially when his husband seemed to be forever finding new ways to piss him off.

"Maybe since Christmas," mumbled the darker man, but through the flames it came out clear as a bell.

"Since Christmas!? That was way more than a month ago!" Harry could tell Draco was working his way towards being livid and when he thought about it, he couldn't really blame him, but for as long as he could remember, an angry Draco Malfoy meant he should be on the defensive.

"What's your point?" he asked with feigned disinterest and the blonde narrowed his eyes at him.

 

"You don't think that decision constituted a floo call or an owl or a request for me to come home-"

 

"I didn't think you owned me, so no," Harry said with his arms crossed.

 

"I'm not trying to insinuate that I own you, you big-headed bastard. I'm trying to remind you that a relationship is about communication; that marriage is about commitment."

 

"So now I'm not committed to our marriage?" Harry says petulantly.

 

"Of course not! I know you're committed to this- You know what, I'm done having this conversation. Don't come back to work, see if I care." Draco removed himself from the flames and back at the manor, Harry did the same before they each collapsed tiredly onto a chair. They had been together and trying to work things out for so long, they had almost forgotten what it was like to argue and be mad with each other.

Harry stood abruptly when either Lyra or Anita began to cry. He was still trying to figure out which was which. Anita was the eldest, sure, but he didn't want to keep doing an age verification spell whenever he wanted to figure it out. He remembered the first time he met Fred and George and the sheer confusion they purposefully created and groaned as he walked into the nursery. Lyra was still sleeping in her crib which means this had to be Anita.

"Oh, hi my love," Harry whispers, scooping her up into his arms in a perpetual rocking motion. He pats her diapered butt with one hand and continues to slightly rock and bounce. When her breathing slowed again he moved to lie her back into her crib when he had one of the biggest shocks of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda short...but it's only cause i have an idea for a chapter you guys won't see quite yet ☺️
> 
> \-- luci xoxo


	24. -veinticuatro-

Harry was laying down a sleeping Anita with a contented sigh before noticing her sister, who had been sleeping just before, wasn't in her crib and he let out a terrified yet nervous little shriek. He closed his eyes while tilting his head back and pinching the bridge of his nose. When he slowly peeled his eyelids apart he was staring at a still sleeping but _floating_ Lyra.

He grabbed her from the air and laid her back into the crib before sliding his wand from his sleeve holster and placing a protective spell on both girls and their cribs so they couldn't get much higher than a few inches if they did happen to float again.

_Call Molly. Ask Hermione. Call Molly Ask Hermione. Call Molly. Ask Hermione. Call Molly. Ask Hermione. Call Molly. Ask Herm-_

He is sitting back and wondering why in the name of Godric no one decided to tell him babies could float when Ron shows up at his front door instead of through the floo and Harry tiredly raises his eyebrows.

"'Ey Harry, mind if I hide out here for a bit. Few days at the most," he says, nervously smiling with a suitcase bobbing in the air behind him. "Few hours at the least..."

 

"Uh sure, Ron," asked Harry stepping aside to let his friend in and closing the door behind him. "What happened?"

 

"'Mione has gone bloody bonkers is what's happened. It's just...'Mione has been trying for this new job promotion so she has to focus on work and- my family in't really big on contraceptive spells and stuff, ya know? And we were both drunk and having a bit of a nice time-"

 

"The point, Ron, before the girls wake up." _Again_ , Harry adds mentally, trying to help his friend along.

 

"Hermione is pregnant again and she's mad at me. Says it's my fault. And I was thinking that since you're not back at work yet, I figured I'd stay with you for a day or two until she calms down and we can discuss everything."

 

"You know my door is always open, Ron," the darker man says, patting his friends shoulder. " _My house is your house_ and all that, but if 'Mione comes looking for you, you're on your own."

 

"Of course," he laughs. "I wouldn't expect you to take the fall for me."

 

"Congratulations, Mate," Harry finally says, smiling at his friend before pulling him into a hug.

 

**\--:--**

 

"Have you been able to contact Mr. Potter yet, Mr. Malfoy?" asks Minerva McGonagall staring at Draco over the rim of her glasses while also handing him a canister of biscuits.

  
"I have," he replied carefully before grabbing a few biscuits and sitting down in the seat across from her desk.

"And?" she inquires, waving her wand and sending a cup of tea in his direction.

"He isn't coming back this school year. He wants to wait until the girls are a bit older before moving back into the castle." Draco agreed with the decision, of course he did, it was a good one, he just wished Harry would have told him this before so he wouldn't be sat in front of the headmistress looking like a sodding fool. McGonagall only nodded and nibbled at her own biscuit.

"Do you think he would want to teach remotely?"

 

"Is- Would that be possible?"

 

"The charms aren't too hard. We could easily have the door to the defense classroom connected to the manor. They would be transported from here to there and back the same way, once class is over. It would be a more hands-on approach, but I feel like that's more your husband's speed anyway." When McGonagall finally took the chance to look at him again he was grinning in a way he can't exactly remember.

"He'd love that. When can he start?" the blonde asks giddily, sitting forward in his chair.

"Well if he agrees, we can have the spellwork done within the next few days and he could probably start working by Monday." A smile works its way onto her face when she adds the next part. "I'm sure you would have to go home as well to assist with picking which rooms to allow students into."

 

"I'll prepare to talk to him first thing tomorrow morning. Thank you, Professor," said Draco not realizing he had stood until his hand was on the door handle.

 

"Anytime, Mr. Malfoy."

 

**\--:--**

 

"Do you think he's going to come back," Scorpius said nervously to a seemingly uninterested Teddy.

"Maybe," the blue-haired boy shrugged. "He loves it here. Hogwarts is like his first home or whatever. He isn't going to just give it up, because of the twins. He'll figure something out, or he'll just take time off 'til the Anita and Lyra are older, you know?"

 

"I just- I need advice," said Scorpius after nodding his understanding.

 

"Is it about your whole ' _Secret Polyamory_ ' thing? 'Cause if it is, I heard Dads discussing it over break and I would say just tell Nick and Hugo and get it over with." When Scorpius didn't answer right away Teddy looked up from where he was writing a Transfiguration essay. "Was I not supposed to know?"

 

"I-I- uh- just shut up." The younger boy was blushing, much like his father, to the tips of his ears before looking away out of the window to the left of them in the library. Teddy let the boy gather up his thoughts. "I don't know how to tell them, is all. I don't know what to say, you know? D-do I tell them I want to see both of them? Do I ask if we could all hang out together? Do I explain first?"

 

"Why not just, ya know, say it?" asks Teddy as if it were the easiest thing in the world. "Just say you're polyamorous or whatever and tell them you like both of them and you want to try being with them, but you understand if they don't want to." He shrugs. "I don't see what's so hard about it. Just use your words, bro. Now if that's it, I have a 12 inch essay on the right and wrong ways to transfigure living creatures."

 

"Uh- yeah, thanks, Ted."

 

"No problem, Scorp. That's what older siblings are for, right? Now leave me alone, goof."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im on spring break. so im confirming a new chapter everyday. you're welcome. lol.
> 
> \-- luci xoxo


	25. -veinticinco-

"Are you serious?" Harry said early Wednesday morning, holding a gurgling Lyra, who insisted on having both of her little hands in his perpetually messy hair, and staring at his husband who had come through the floo once he had gotten dressed to share the good news.

"For the last time, Potter, yes, If you want to teach from here, McGonagall will make it possible, but she needs an answer by tonight. Is that something you would want to do?" Draco wasn't looking at him, but rather at the little bundle tangled in his hair.

"You know I'm sorry, don't you?" the darker man said quietly. "For yesterday. I was just- I was tired. I didn't mean to- I should have told you what I was thinking."

 

"It's fine, I wasn't holding it against you," Draco says, looking into Harry's eyes for the first time since he had stepped out of the fireplace. "Assuming you agree, I mean, If you really want to do this we have to make a list of rooms the children can be in. I was thinking letting them have the second floor living room as a classroom, because it has the most adjoining rooms and it can be connected with the sword room for more practical lessons and the library for any in class research." He lifted a hand almost on instinct to brush Lyra's dark hair back from her soft face. "It has it's own bathroom," he added almost as an afterthought, while giving his daughter a soft loving look.

 

"This may be a stupid question-"

 

"Yours usually are," said the blonde glancing up, and Harry stuck his tongue out at him, but let a soft but confused smile take over his face. This was natural. This was good.

 

"Why does it matter how many adjoining rooms there are?"

 

"Once you enter through the main door," he said standing up straight again. "You aren't going to be able to leave the area until the class is over, because the main door will be connected to Hogwarts. So it needs adjoining rooms so they can leave for bathroom breaks or more physical lessons and you need a connecting room to get to the girls or an emergency floo."

 

"Oh," said the ravenette, looking stunned. "I never would have thought of that."

 

"It isn't very common magic," Draco mutters, but he is more focused on Lyra who chose that moment to burp and spit up all over the shoulder of Harry's shirt. They both smiled before making their way upstairs to wipe her down and change her clothes and grab the younger man a new shirt as well.

 

"I've  been trying to burp her since before you got here."

 

"Does that mean Anita is still napping?" Draco asked, hopeful.

 

"Yeah, or with Ron."

 

"With R- Why is Weasley here?" asked the paler man, a mix of confusion and surprise.

 

"'Mione is pregnant and blames him," Harry explains, chuckling at his husband's expression.

 

"Has Granger forgotten how sex works?"

 

"So..." the darker man continues. "I told him he could stay here until it all blew over."

 

"Of course you did," his husband responds, removing his younger daughter from his hands and holding her out at arms length even as she starts to whine. "It's all right, little one. We just have to get you cleaned up first."

 

"How uh- how did you know that wasn't Anita?" asked Harry nervously, not looking towards the man behind him as they made their way into the nursery then the adjoining bathroom to clean the small girl up. Draco furrowed his eyebrows before his eyes widened and he chuckled.

"Old family magic," he responded, lifting her tiny left foot in his hand. Harry noticed that her sock had fallen off and there on her tiny brown foot, clear as day, laid a small expanse of pale alabaster skin in the shape of a star. "Only works with twins."

 

"That's brilliant," whispers the shorter man in awe, before reaching out to rub his thumb across it.

 

**\--:--**

 

"So," started Nick looking anywhere but at Scorpius as they walked together towards Ravenclaw Tower. "You like me?"

 

"Yes," agrees Scorpius in a continuous state of blushing.

 

"But you also like Rose's little brother?"

 

"Yes," he says again.

 

"And you want to know if I would be okay with the three of us all dating each other?"

 

"Well...yeah. B-basically."

 

"Scorp," started the boy turning to him for the first time since they had started talking. "I like you too, and I mean, it's not like I'm against the whole poly-whatever thing, but I would like to date you before we go adding anyone else to the equation." He shrugs and walks up to the portrait and quickly answers her riddle.

"Yeah," Scorpius says quietly. "I think I understand. I'll uh- I'll just- er- go to the library."

 

"Scorpius, don't be mad at me," pleads the older boy once the smaller boy looked away from him. He placed a hand on the blonde's arm to get him to look at him, but Scorpius shook it free.

"I'm not m-mad. I j-j-just have someth-thing to d-do in the library. I'll see you l-later." He got a few steps away before he finally turned to see the frame closing back into place with Nick nowhere in sight. He sped off towards the direction of the library without stopping or looking back. He needed the idle silence and time to himself.

Scorpius took a deep inhale of the book in front of him. It helped calm him down in a way he wasn't sure anyone else could really understand. He wasn't mad at Nick. He was mad at himself for listening to Teddy. Sure, he knew for a fact that Nick liked him back, but now he was back to square one. Or somewhere close enough to it that it made him feel unbalanced. He hadn't realized how long he was gone or that he was crying until Rose threw her arm over his shoulder and Teddy handed him a tissue.

"You never showed up for dinner," his brother supplied with a shrug. "We got worried."

 

"He got worried," Rose corrected with an eye roll. "I've been in here studying for the last hour watching you get progressively more pitiful." Scorpius snorted at that and shoved her off of him kindly before wiping his eyes and nose.

 

"Thank you."

 

"That's what we're here for, remember?" Teddy says, with a slight upturn to the corner of his mouth. "I'm assuming one of them said no? Or was I way off and Nick only likes you as a friend?"

 

"No, you were right. And it wasn't exactly a no...I think it was more of a date us one at a time first, see if you really want to be with both of us, type of thing. It was like he was unintentionally acting like my feelings weren't valid. Like I couldn't possibly like both of them at once."

 

"Then prove him wrong," says Rose, standing up to move back to her table. "Date Hu for a few days then date Nick for a few days. Flip-flop between them, you know? Let him meet Hu. Show him how you feel. Force him to see that you're valid. If he still doesn't want to date both of you, he may not be worth it. Now can I get back to my homework?"

 

"I don't think that's the best idea, if we're being honest," says Teddy.

 

"Me getting back to my homework?"

 

"Scorp using Hu like that. It doesn't feel right."

 

"I mean, sure he should talk to Hu and see how he feels about the whole thing first, but if he agrees I don't see the issue. Give Nick what he wants, but do it in a way where he realizes what Scorp wants. It's a win-win."

 

"I just feel like that would just prove Nick's point though. Scorp should talk to Hu and the three of them should sit down and discuss this. Scorp shouldn't be tricking anyone into anything," Teddy stopped and looked at his brother. "And if Nick doesn't want to be with either of you, you can't force him, but don't let him force you into something you don't want either, okay?"

 

Scorpius nods before letting his head fall to the table in front of him. He had a lot more thinking to do.


	26. -veintiséis-

Ron and Harry were each waving their wands to ensure that the chalkboard was connected to the wall and wouldn't fall off under any circumstances. One of Harry's fourth years had a habit of blowing up more things than Seamus ever did. They had already fixed up the adjoining second nursery and emergency floo as well as making sure the bathroom was fully equipped before the students arrived.

"Are you ready for this, mate?" asked Ron, handing Harry one of the twins and patting him on the shoulder before picking up the other one. They walked together back into the second nursery before laying the girls in their cribs.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. And I mean, there are house elves here to fix bottles and change diapers during lessons and I'll be there for feeding and burping and everything." He nodded to himself as if reassuring himself weren't strange. "It's going to be fine."

"Of course it is," agreed Ron just as an owl flew through the only open window. It dropped a letter at the redhead's feet and flew off again. He blanched as he looked down at the envelope. He didn't get a chance to run before the howler opened it's flap and began shrieking.

 

_Ronald Billius Weasley,_

_You can't just hide out at Harry's or the Burrow whenever we have an argument! How are we supposed to get through it if you just pack up and leave? Just because it works for Draco Malfoy does not mean it will work for you! You have 30 minutes after this message ends to get back home or you can pick a room and bloody live with the Malfoy-Potters for the rest of your life!_

_Hermione Jean_

 

"I've uh- actually grown quite fond of the paisley bedroom," Ron says looking like he was going to be sick.

 

"Go home, Ron," Harry says still laughing his arse off at Hermione's use of Ron's full name.

 

"Oi, it isn't funny, mate. She'd hang me by my bullocks just as soon as hug me to death, with the way her moods are."

 

"I told you I wasn't going to get in the middle of it, now go home."

 

"You always side with her," the pale but freckled man said sulkily, moving into the hall and up the stairs to pack his things.

 

"It's mostly out of self preservation and cowardice."

 

"What kind of Gryffindor are you?" shouted Ron teasingly, from the upper level.

 

"One who married a Slytherin," he yelled back.

 

"Oi, a disgrace if ever I heard one," said the redhead in response and Harry couldn't help but laugh.

It was nice having his best friend around for the past few days. Even though Ron had been working, when he came home he always had a new story to tell about some coworker and it helped Harry notice how hidden away Hogwarts and the Manor were. He and Draco rarely went anywhere besides home or work because they had no need to. The grocery and toiletries restocked themselves, and anything that broke could be easily fixed. Some weekends when they were both off they'd head to the Burrow for dinner, but other than that, they had become so sheltered.

"Don't forget to tell 'Mione congratulations from me, okay?" he said, patting Ron's shoulder and helping him lift and balance his luggage in the air, once he had come back down the stairs.

 

"Wouldn't dream of it," he responds easily before pausing. "Uh...Harry?"

 

"Yeah, Ron?"

 

"Thank you for letting me stay here. I know you have a lot going on and-"

 

"Don't worry about it. You were a huge help with the girls. I knew next to nothing about _magically inclined_ babies or whatever. I'd been meaning to call your mom or Hermione about it anyway."

 

"They _are_ my god-daughters, mate. You've done more than enough for Rose and Hu, you know? Just doing what's right. Just- thanks again, yeah?"

Harry nodded at his best friend before watching as the man ambled down the path away from the Manor until he was across the gates and could disapparate freely. He let out a breath then yelped when the clock chimed as a signal for his first class. He took another deep breath before walking into what was essentially going to be his classroom for the rest of the year. He was sitting at his newly constructed desk at the front of the room when he heard students start to mill around the door.

It was strange, knowing he wasn't at Hogwarts, but feeling like he was all the same. He smiled.

"Seven hells," said the first first year student who stumbled in. "This is _not_ the defense classroom."

 

"Sorry to say it isn't, but it will be for the rest of the year," Harry says, looking up with a smile. He almost cried at the sheer happiness reflected on the child's face.

 

"Professor Potter!" screamed the girl happily. She yanked open the door again and it was Harry's first time catching a glimpse of the Hogwarts corridors since before Christmas break. If he wiped away a tear, that was his business. "Guys! Look, it's Professor Potter!"

 

"Nice try, Sam, but we all know Professor Potter isn't coming back, Professor Malfoy said so," answered a darker boy with braids. Harry stood and made his way over to the door and motioned for Sam to take a seat, but instead se wrapped him up in a hug that almost had him sobbing before finding a place to sit.

 

"Professor Malfoy was right," Harry said holding open the door and breathing in that brisk school air. "I'm not coming back to Hogwarts, at least not any time soon, but that doesn't stop me from being your professor, does it Travis?"

 

"No, sir," the boy said with an ecstatic grin that was mirrored on almost every face he saw as they entered the classroom. Once everyone was seated, Harry closed the door and explained the rules of HLDE or Hogwarts Level Distance Education (Hermione and Draco came up with the name). When he was sure they got it he leaned back against the desk, throwing one leg comfortably over the other and crossed his arms.

"Well then," he says with a shrug. "First day here, we aren't going to be doing much. What've I missed?" He sent a lopsided grin their way and they broke into choruses of:

 _It was terrible without you, professor!_ and _We missed you so much, sir!_

He smiled at them and snorted when one girl in the neck yelped out something along the lines of: _You're not round any more, sir!_

"No," the messy haired man agreed. "I am decidedly not round anymore." Another girl raised her hand and Harry points at her.

 

"Was it just gas then, professor?" He snorts at that but shakes his head.

 

"It was not just gas," he responded with a chuckle and as if on cue, and Harry couldn't have planned it if he tried, the twins started crying from the adjoining nursery. He looked around at all the young awed faces and pushed himself away from the desk, making a split second decision. He started walking towards the door leading to the girls, but when everyone else remained seated he turned to them with a questioning smile. "Well? C'mon then."

With glee the students stood and placed themselves into a single file line and followed him into the huge second nursery to meet his daughters.


	27. -veintisiete-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> double update. you're welcome. but also sorry.

Harry pushed the door open slowly and saw two tiny pouting faces. One of which was still screaming their red little head off, but a silencing charm was enough to keep it to a constant hum.

"Papa's here, love." He moves over to Anita who had started kicking at the bars on her crib in an attempt to be heard. Meanwhile Lyra had started floating regularly and was kicking and gurgling happily in the air above her crib.

 

"Woah! Professor, she's floating!"

 

For less than a second he forgot that his class was behind him once he had calmed Anita down and taken the silencing charm off. As he bounced her lightly he checked her diaper. When she was clean he peeked over and did the same to Lyra trying not to make the floating girl bob too much.

"Yeah, she does that," said the man, fondly."Not quite sure how to get her to stop."

 

_Are they twins, professor?_

_  
What's their names, sir?_

_  
They're so small!_

_  
I wonder if I was ever that small!_

_  
Congratulations, sir!_

 

"Thank you," he says with a smile and heated cheeks. "And yes, they are twins, actually. This little lady is Anita, and that floating bundle of accidental magic is her sister Lyra."

 

"My mum says when I was a baby I only stopped floating in the bath," supplied one of Harry's students happily, watching him play with his daughter. He laughed before responding.

 

"She only floats when she's sleeping or eating, so it isn't too often, just often enough that I've stopped questioning it," he says with another fond smile, while lying both girls back into the cribs then charming bottles to feed them until completion. He cast a tempus and checked the time. "Now, we may have just enough time to review what you've been over while I've been gone, yeah?"

The class groaned but turned and headed back to their new classroom to take their seats. Harry followed them happily with a glance back towards the twins.

The rest of his day went on in a similar fashion. He talked to the class, each one less surprised than the last, but just as happy to see him. They met Anita and Lyra, who were up and bouncing around with a couple of house elves by his second class. It was nice, he thought, having a job and his girls.

When Scorpius' class came in he was excited to see his dad and his sisters, but nothing else seemed to be going right for the little blonde. Harry tried to talk to him and reassure him, but he was in teacher mode and the boy refused to stay after abd talk about it. It was something he decided he needed to come to terms with on his own. Or at least that's what he told Harry.

By lunch, Draco was bursting through the Hogwarts' adjoining door with a blinding grin.

"The rest of the castle is buzzing and I don't know who is more excited, me or the fifth years," he said without much preamble, in typical Malfoy fashion, closing the door behind him then moving to sit on his husband's desk and scope out the rest of the room. "This is actually nice."

 

"What, you thought Ron and I were going to budge it up?"

 

"No. Of course not. Weasley is a big strong auror remember," he said with false excitement before going calmly serious again and shrugging before picking up something from Harry's desk and examining it with a furrowed brow. "I thought _you_ were going to budge it up."

 

The ravenette snorted but snatched the paper clip his husband was holding anyway. Through the horror and mood swings of pregnancy hormones and prenatal potions, Harry had almost forgotten how snarky his husband was. His blonde had learned to be more agreeable even if he didn't really mean all of it. When Draco turned around to look at him Harry's face broke into a lopsided grin.

"I love you," the darker man said happily and his husband rolled his eyes with a smirk, before puffing his chest out a little proudly and sweeping a hand over his hair, smoothing the ponytail down, as if there would be a strand out of place.

"Of course you do, Potter. I'm a very lovable person." He peeked back at him with a fond look and an almost timid smile, like even after all these years, Harry's love is still so precious to him. "Want to know a secret?"

Harry nodded frozen; entranced by that little smile.

"I love you too."

 

**\--:--**

 

"Woah there, Malfoy," says a second year Slytherin girl, Olivia, bumping into an angry and shaking Scorpius who was sitting on the ground with his back to a wall, closest to the Slytherin common room. "A little far from the Eagle's nest, don't'cha think?" When he didn't get a response she slid down next to him. "You a'right?"

 

"F-f-f-" he growls before finally barking out a: "Fine!"

 

"Yeah, you seem fine. A real ray of sunshine, down here in the dungeons." Her black hair had a streak of green and silver running through it. It was sat on top of her head in a messy bun with pieces hanging down to frame her round face. Her wire-rimmed glasses were thin and covered in a pattern Scorpius couldn't quite see.

His breath was coming quickly, but he still had the audacity to look at her annoyed but she only shrugged. She was shorter than him, a lot of students his age were, ever since he hit a growth spurt over Christmas hols.

" _Who_ are you?" the blonde asks, not caring if it came across a little rude.

 

"Olivia Taylor, we have history of magic together."

 

"What d-do you w-w-want?" said the pale boy, looking away again to stare at a spot on the ground in front of him. He just needed something to focus on.

 

"Nothing." She shrugs and Scorpius is tired of this conversation already. "I almost tripped over you, thought I'd see what your deal was."

 

"I-I don't have a d-deal," he grits through his teeth. "I'm just t-t-tired." Which was true. He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes and counted to 7 before releasing it and staying again.

Over the years Scorpius' ADD had festered so his father had taken him to see a mind healer. Things were fine until he turned 8 or 9, hr's not sure which, and had a literal mental breakdown. Then he went to a different mind healer, and more problems were tacked on. Big name things like anxiety and depression. A sodding abandonment disorder. Things that made it sound like there was so much wrong with him, but his father said there wasn't. That he was _normal_. The boy scoffed to himself.

He's been taking his potions, but lately they just haven't seemed to be working. His stutter has gotten worse and he was sure someone had to have noticed.

_They probably think he's dumb. And he knows his friends are probably tired of him. Nick thinks he's weird and probably doesn't even really like him anyway. Teddy is too old to hang out with him and he's usually off somewhere trying to have sex with practically anything with a pulse. Rose is always studying. Then he thinks about the fact that Nick and Nat are most likely a package deal so now she probably hates him too. Then his Papa had been gone for a month this time and came back like he does everytime, acting as though he cares._

 

Scorpius growled when his heart and breathing sped up again.

 

"Are you sure you're okay, Malfoy?" Olivia asks, and he forgot she was there.

_Why the bloody hell was she still there? Like he needed her. Like he needed anybody. Like everyone didn't just leave you in the end anyway. Like he could leave. Like, he could get up and walk away right now, if only he could **breathe**._

 

"Malfoy! You need to calm down."

 

She forced him to look her in the eyes and then she just breathed. She didn't talk.

Or ask about classes.

 

Or ask why he was a year ahead.

 

Or ask if he was having a panic attack, because of course he was.

 

Or ask why he was panicking.

 

Or-

 

She just stared into his eyes and taught him how to breathe again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a lot of people deal with foa (fear of abandonment) or depression or anxiety or a range of other disorders, and i get that 
> 
> as someone who deals with depression & anxiety myself, know that you aren't alone and you can get through this, okay?
> 
> much love
> 
> \-- luci xoxo


	28. -veintiocho-

As the rest of February came and went, Scorpius and Olivia became practically inseparable after his little incident in the corridor near the the dungeons. She was witty and wasn't afraid to do or say whatever she wanted. He thought that it was a pretty nice change from the _yes, sir_ manners of a lot of the ravenclaws.

When Harry saw them passing his door he laughed and called Draco from the nursery to come see.

"It looks like you and Pansy," he said in explanation.

 

"Oh shut up, it does not. She looks more like Milicent."

 

"Bulstrode?"

 

"Do you know another woman with a hideous name like that?" Draco looked taken aback as if that would destroy their marriage immediately, newborns not withstanding. The ravenette snorted at that and almost died from laughter when Draco actually left the room to find out if the girl was Pansy and Milicent's potion-born lovechild.

"Scorpius!" Draco said trying not to chase after his son all afternoon. "And friend."

 

"Olivia," said the girl.

 

"I don't care?" he responded, more like a question as if he was confused as to why she was telling him. "Is your mother Milicent Bulstrode?"

 

"It's Milicent Taylor, now, Professor," she said with her arms crossed, giving him a challenging look.

 

"I thought she-"

 

"Snapped her wand and married a muggle? She did."

 

"I was going to say renounced magic, but sure," he said, taking on the same challenging tone and stance. Scorpius thought for sure that it looked more terrifying on his father, maybe because he had years of practice, but Olivia didn't look bothered by it at all. She only shrugged.

 

"Didn't stick."

 

"Then she had no real reason to miss my wedding, did she? I'll send her an owl with my regards." Draco turned and made his way back towards his husbands classroom.

 

"She'll throw it out just as soon as she reads your name!"

 

"I wouldn't expect anything less," he says still not turning around. The door closed behind him with finality and she growled.

 

"I hate bloody Slytherins."

 

"Uh- aren't you a slytherin?" said Scorpius, not quite sure of what was going on.

 

"Exactly. Which is why _I_ can say that and _you_ can't. Keep up, Malfoy." She spun on the balls of her feet and continued in the direction they were originally headed.

 

**\--:--**

 

"Do you think they're dating?" Nick asks Rose as he and his sister sit with her at a corner table in the library. He hasn't taken his eyes off of Scorpius and Olivia in the opposite corner, huddled together reading over some book on ancient spells and language. Rose rolls her eyes, but doesn't look up from her parchment.

"Scorp is _gay_ ," she said through a sigh, as if Nick had forgotten.

 

"Well I know that, but-"

 

"Do you have a problem with Scorp?" she said finally looking up at him angrily.

 

"W-what? No! Why would I-" He yelped and Madam Pence was there in seconds to tell him to quiet down.

 

"You've been acting like a prat to him and now you're moping around and judging him because he's made a new friend. Get over yourself Nick." She slammed her book shut and rolled up her parchment before stuffing it in her bag. She looked over at Natalie and blushed before saying goodbye to her as well.

 

"Can you believe her?" Nick said turning to his sister.

 

"Yeah, I can. You have been acting like a prat. So what, Scorp's polygonal or whatever-"

 

"How did you get sorted it into Ravenclaw?"

 

"I value intelligence and creativity. What's your explanation, idiot?" she shoved his shoulder. "And anyway, that's not the point. He likes you and he likes someone else. Work with it. Do you know how hard it had to be for him to tell you and you were all like ' _Uh that's not valid, dude. No thanks_.'"

 

"I don't sound like that, and I never said he wasn't valid." He looks back towards Scorpius again, whispering to that slytherin girl. "I would never say something like that."

 

"Maybe not on purpose, but that's what it sounded like. He told you how he felt, and you completely disregarded it because you couldn't wrap your tiny little brain around it. He's probably been dealing with this for months." She shook her head and stood up.

 

"Where're you going?"

 

"Dinner. I'm starving. Stop staring and let's go," she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder and crossing her arms.

 

"You go on ahead, I'll catch up," Nick tried to say, but his sister was shaking her head before he could finish.

 

"No. I don't trust you alone with them. You may do something even more dumb than losing us our best friend." Natalie grabbed his arm and pulled him from his chair before snatching up his bag and shoving it at his chest. "Now, let's _go_."

She turned without another word and he paused only for a second when Scorpius looked up from his book and caught his eye, surprised to see him there. Nick practically ran out of the library after that. He had been so hyper aware of the blonde boy and Scorp hadn't even realized he was there. Scorpius was still avoiding him though, because he never came to dinner.

 

**\--:--**

 

It was getting closer and closer to March 20th and Teddy was trying to make sure Elle had the best birthday ever. The only thing was, he was having problems seeing her right. He knew what she looked like. Of course he did. He had learned the curve of her smile and the feel of her lips and the placement of her freckles and the way her hair curled just-so behind her ear when it was particularly hot in Professor Longbottom's greenhouse, but for some reason he kept getting it wrong. Now whenever he looked at her, her hair started going blonde and her freckles would fade to be less stark and even her sodding ears would lose their point. The only good part was that her breasts would grow, but then she wasn't even Elle anymore, was she? She was Victoire Weasley and he couldn't help but be disgusted with himself. It wasnt that Vic was ugly, he just...he didn't like her. Not the way he liked Elle. He was old enough to know the problem. He liked Elle, but the way Vic paraded around campus with her piercings and tight clothes...he wanted her. And he was terrified out of his mind.

Harry cleared his throat to catch his son's attention and when Teddy jumped, he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay, Ted?"

 

"Wha- Oh, yeah," the boy fibbed, turning away from where Victoire was laughing with her friends and smiling at his dad, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I'm great. Terrific. Just uh-"

 

"Staring very creepily at Vic? Yeah, I noticed. The portraits noticed. She noticed. We all noticed. It's getting weird. Walk away."

 

Teddy turned bright red only seconds before his hair actually faded to pink.

 

"Teddy," Harry said softly. "Do you like Victoire?"

 

"No," snapped the blue haired boy more angry at himself than with his Pops. "I like Elle."

 

"Then why are you looking at Vic like that?" the messy haired man was still talking calmly, sympathetically almost, as if any change in his tone would set the boy off.

 

"She's just- I don't know. She's different from Elle."

 

"Wow, Ted, never pegged you as being one to state the obvious."

 

"No, I just mean, Elle is great, but Vic seems..." he shrugs while thinking of a good word to describe it. "Advanced."

 

Harry nodded as if he understood but then his response let Teddy know that he clearly did _not_.

 

"Hmm...I think Elle does pretty advanced magic, even considering the fact she has to fight to reign in her powers and stray magic-"

 

"That's not what I mean. Look, Pops, you just wouldn't understand."

 

"And why is that?"

 

"Well," thought Teddy out loud. "'Cause you're with dad. Things are different for you."

 

"Oh," said Harry. " _Oh!_ Is this a sex thing? Have we been having a sex conversation this whole time? Bloody hell. Don't tell your Dad I almost budged this up, yeah?"

 

"What do you m-"

 

"Okay, this conversation makes so much more sense, now. Okay. Yeah. I am completely on the same page now. You like Vic because she's more developed than Elle, but you still like Elle as a person."

 

"How'd you figure that one out," snorted Teddy, starting to blush again from having this conversation with his dad in the middle of the corridor and decided to push him into his classroom instead. Harry laughed at the boy and stopped, holding on to his desk chair, when he realized he was being serious.

 

"Well I'm a _guy_ ," Harry said obviously. "A guy who was pregnant because _magic_ ," he said with exaggerated hand movements. "But a guy nonetheless."

 

"Yeah," agreed Teddy just as obviously. "A _gay_ guy."

 

"I'm actually not very picky one way or the other..." he tried to cut in to no avail. The boy was now pacing back and forth across the classroom.

 

"You know, when people ask- whenever they've asked- I've always just like 'Hey, yeah, that's Harry Potter, my gay dad.' Now you're telling me, what, you aren't gay? That's dragon turd and you know it."

 

"I just don't like labels," the ravenette put in with a shrug. "Girl, Guy, Both, Neither, I'm really not too picky. I more a personality kind of gu-"

 

"Oh my gods," Teddy looked horrified. "Everything I know is a lie. I'm going to fling myself from the astronomy tower."

 

"Okay, how much time have you been spending with Draco?"

 

"I needed some advice and you weren't here," the boy defended.

 

" _R~ight_ ," Harry said, nodding sarcastically."Did any of this advice have to do with Victoire and Elle?"

 

"No. He never caught me staring." The man snorted because his son's voice was almost accusatory.

 

"Ted, everyone's noticed."

 

Harry stood and made his way to the nursery with a moping Teddy behind him. He looked back just as the boy tossed himself face first onto the lounge chair next to the changing station.

"How come no one's told me?" he whined, turning over and throwing an arm over his face.

 

"Vic is part veela, no one thought it was important until it kept happening. You've known her for so long and continued exposure is supposed to help you build a resistance." The green-eyed man was laying out pajamas for the girls to wear after their bath, but froze and turned concerned, towards his son. "What's with all the dramatics today? You sure this thing with Victoire is the only thing going on?"

 

Teddy thought back to a month ago when his brother sat in front of him nervous to talk to Nick about his feelings then his face once Nick had turned him down, then his mind flashed to running around for hours looking for him only to find him mid-panic attack, with some girl there helping him breathe. He was worried for his brother. He looked over to his dad, happy to be in the castle teaching, with his family and he nodded.

"Yeah, pops. That's it," he shrugged. "Just a bit conflicted. You know how my ADHD thing gets when I'm forced into a corner." He forces out a chuckle and watched as the small line creasing between his dad's eyebrows slowly smoothed out.

 

"Yeah," Harry said laughing a little as well. "Just remember you can talk to me or Draco, okay? Gay Dads or not."

 

"Yep," the boy said. "Of course." He sent a grin in his dad's direction before forcing himself off the couch and heading towards the Hufflepuff common room.


	29. -veintinueve-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting the last three chappies tonight because i got behind and spring break is over.
> 
> Ao3 was down last night so it was loading and freezing on a loop and when the chapter finally did post it was showing up as chapter 41.
> 
> im so done.

Teddy was walking carefully behind his girlfriend. Elle's eyes were covered completely by his hands and she couldn't stop giggling.

"Can you at least tell me where we're going?" she said still laughing and only received a kiss on the check in response.

 

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I just told you!" the blue haired boy responded excitably in a sing-song voice. He had been trying his hardest to force himself to see her. To see the way she used to look, with her pointed ears and choppy hair and dark brown freckles. The way her blush would make them look less like tiny specks of brown and more like stars, glittering across her cheeks. It didn't matter though. It wouldn't stick. He'd blink or sigh with relief or yawn and her image would shimmer and change and fade and once again he was staring at someone who was Elle, but not quite.

 

"I hate surprises," the girl pouted and as much as Teddy wanted to deny it, she looked adorable. He had her amulet in his pocket and when they reached a good enough point he had her stop, with her eyes still closed and placed the necklace on her. "And you know I hate this thing too."

 

"You have to wear it, Elle. For your surprise," he added, scrubbing at the back of his neck even though she couldn't see him. She nodded with her eyes still closed and he let out a sigh of relief as her features slowly softened back into her own, before placing his hands back over her eyes. "It'll be great. Promise."

 

They walked a little further, until they were standing in the courtyard, which had been strung up with fairy lights and banners and streamers and the like. There were crackers, taped together from Christmas, and a table fashioned out of stone blocks, covered in snacks and and drinks.

"SURPRISE!" yelled the rest of their class once they had finally entered the room and Teddy dropped his hands. There were kids their age, like her friends from Gryffindor and his from Hufflepuff, but Scorpius had also come and dragged along a few kids from Slytherin, because he still wasn't quite on speaking terms with Nick and Natalie, though they made it with a few other Ravenclaws as well. She turned to him with a soft smile and huge watering eyes.

 

"This may seriously be the best surprise I've ever gotten. Thanks, Ted."

 

And he knew couldn't tell her that all he could think about at that moment was the fact that Victoire Weasley was leaning on one of the walls talking to some of the older girls who came with Scorp from Slytherin.

 

"Happy Birthday, Elle."

 

**\--:--**

 

The rest of spring passes in much of the same fashion. It's with a flash that summer begins inching it's way towards Hogwarts.

 

"Can- er...Can Elle come home with us for break?" Teddy asks two weeks before they're due to start packing up and heading out.

 

"You're not having sex with your sisters in the house," Harry said, not disagreeing, but also in a tone of voice that was almost a warning and Draco nodded sagely. "Wait until their old enough to properly be disgusted by the prospect."

 

"I don't care either way. I just hope you two are using precautions. Muggle and Magical. You can never be too protected," the blonde adds.

 

"Holy Merlin," Teddy said dropping his fork astonished before looking over at Scorpius, who had been almost eerily quiet over the last few days. "Please tell me we are not having the safe sex talk at dinner."

 

"If you can't talk about it," his father countered. "You shouldn't be doing it."

 

"We've only done it once and we were safe," he sputtered. "I promise. Bought muggle condoms and everything. Can we be done with this now?" It was for his birthday. He had cried, _of course he had_ , because she had come in looking just like Victoire and he couldn't help but to cry. He didn't want his first time to be with Victoire. He wanted it to be with Elle. His girlfriend. The one he... They were still working on the big L word. She understood, because _of course she did_ , and that only made him start crying worse. When they had finally done it, he was sputtering an apology and she was wearing her necklace. He watched almost meticulously as they peeled each layer of clothing off of each other. He hasn't seen her as Vic since. He looks down at his plate and smiles softly.

 

"No," said Draco at the same time Harry spit out an: "Only once?"

 

"Potter, that is not the point!" Draco smacked the back of his husband's head and Harry turned to him rubbing that spot, with a raise of his lip and a smack of his teeth.

 

"That's d-d-disgus-s-sting," Scorpius bites out through gritted teeth. They could tell it started as a brotherly tease, but the word getting caught forced the younger blonde to take on a much angrier tone.

 

"Scorp," asked his father calmly. "Have you been taking your potions?"

 

"No," said the young blonde looking anywhere but at him and pushing his food away. The thing he learned about his problem was that whenever he wanted to zone out he couldn't. It was a bloody curse and it was probably his death eater of a father's fault anyway.

 

"And why not?"

 

"They d-don't help." He shrugged still not looking at Draco.

 

"Scorp, why didn't you just tell someone? We can get them adjusted. You've probably just built up a tolerance."

 

The boy crossed his arms

 

"Scorpius."

 

He sat, still not speaking.

 

"Scorpius Hyperion, if you don't fucking look at me-"

 

"What're you g-g-going to do, hit me? You didn't even w-want to d-d-discipline me when I was young-ger. Teddy alm-most killed me before C-Christmas and a-a-all you did w-was _gr-ground_ us. I'm not s-sc-scared of you, old man."

 

"Excuse me?" Draco looked at his son with a piercing gaze that Harry hadn't seen so intensely since they were fighting back in school and he instinctively slid his chair away.

 

Harry knew the difference between discipline and abuse. He had grown up in an abusive household, but he also stayed with the Weasleys long enough to notice when they were going to get spanked or when they were going to get their hands popped for doing something absolutely untoward, but it always made him uncomfortable. He knew in some cases it was necessary, but Scorp was 12 now and he was pretty sure the smaller blonde was too tall to fit across his father's lap. Before the messy-haired man could say as much, Draco had his wand out. With a flick of his wrist, Scorpius' mouth sealed itself shut. When he finally managed to pry it open no sound came out.

"Dad!" yelped Teddy nervously. He hadn't quite seen this side of Draco or Scorpius, for that matter.

 

"If you have a problem with your stutter, Hyperion, you tell someone about it. If you're having a bad day at school, you come let one of us know. If you want to have a bloody tantrum because you're having a bad few months? Then boo-fucking-hoo. We've all had rough months." Draco's voice was eerily calm as he spoke. His eyes never left his son's scared yet angry face. "But if you want to take that out on everyone around you, I prefer you did it in silence."

 

Harry placed a hand on his husband's shoulder and Draco snatched away. He used his wand to clear his space then stood abruptly and walked out of the room. They had decided to have family dinner in the manor before the door to and from Hogwarts locked for the night.

"Malfoy, wait!" the ravnette said throwing his napkin onto his plate and following after his husband, but the blonde turned abruptly.

 

"Potter, I'm fine, stay with the girls. Hyperion, get back to Ravenclaw Tower. Theodore you should head back to Hufflepuff as well."

 

"Uh- yes sir," mumbles Teddy nervously before saying goodnight and brushing past them. Scorpius, still unable to speak follows. When the boys are gone Harry steps closer and places a hand on the paler man's cheek.

 

"He loves you, you know? He's just going through a rough time."

 

"We've- I've spoiled him. I've tried to protect him from everything and now he's finding things out on his own and it terrifies him. I know it does, because it terrifies me, but I don't know what to tell him half the time. He isn't like me. He's like Astoria. Like you. Kind and caring and intelligent and scared of his own sodding shadow. I just..." He looks into Harry's eyes and the man notices he was crying before pulling him into a hug.

 

"It's okay, love. He'll get through this. Whatever it is. We all will. Together."

 

"I hope so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whats your opinion on beatings or whoopings or whatever?
> 
> im black and from the south with pretty old school parents, so when you  act up or talk back, know you getting that belt/switch.  
> that shit aint no game   
> i actually used to prefer whoopings to like punishment cause i got to keep my DS & stuff


	30. -treinte-

After the incident, Scorpius started to notice that in either of his dads' classes they didn't seem to pay him any attention. He couldn't speak so he assumed that meant they were going to ignore him too wasn't. He wrote a letter to his papa one day in Defense then waited til after class to give it to him. The man had only sighed and shaken his head.

  
_"I told your father I wasn't getting involved. There are consequences for your actions, Scorp. It may not have seemed like it because he was so angry, but you hurt your dad's feelings. He only wants what's best for you. We both do. Now, get to your next class."_

 

To be honest, Scorpius couldn't believe himself. He had called his father a death eater...even if he hadn't said it out loud. By not taking his potions, those were the type of thoughts he was letting run rampant. He hadn't been late for a dose since.

When he had entered the hospital wing for them after missing so many doses, Madam Pomfrey was frenzied. When he explained how he felt she explained that he wasn't only taking a potion for his ADD. It was for- well, everything. His potion is what had made his father qualified for a job as a potions master.

Draco Malfoy had spent years perfecting a potion that would ease some pf the symptoms from his sons problems. It was an antidepressant but it was also a stimulant and anything else the boy needed to keep him feeling balanced. His dad had done that just for him.

He positioned himself into a ball and cried. Pomfrey let him spend the rest of the day sleeping in the infirmary.

 

**\--:--**

 

Scorpius is tossing his clothes onto the bed then magically folding them and forcing them into his trunk. He's had plenty of time to think about the situation with his father and he knows for a fact he could have handled it better. We both could have, he insists to himself, though he knows he's wrong.

  
"I don't believe my eyes," said Manish, the dark-indian boy who shared a room with Scorpius, walking in while surveying the room. "There is a girl looking for you at the portrait hole, Malfoy. A slytherin! Do you know any slytherin girls? I told her you had no idea who she was." He shrugged. "Made her pretty upset too. You're such a heartbreaker, Malfoy."

  
Scorpius motioned towards his mouth angrily. Manish knew who Olivia was, they had all snuck down to the kitchens together. It was the last day of school and he had been practically mute for the last two weeks and Manish already _knew_ that, he just liked to mess with him. The blonde attempted to growl at him.

"I know what you're thinking, Scorp. ' _Well did you at least tell her I was sorry, Manny?_ ' And the answer is-" he beats against his leg for a second to simulate a drumroll. "Absolutely not." The darker boy smiled goofily at him and Scorpius couldn't help but smile and silently guffaw at his friend. He had a way of bringing the boy's spirits up that only he could.

Manish Savant was tall as bloody fucking hell. No exaggeration. The only reason Scorpius even noticed this was because the boy was taller than him and everyone had always called him tall before. Manish who usually just went by Manny was well built for a 12 year old, like he had been playing sports in the womb, but oddly enough he was terrible at quidditch. History of Magic was more his speed. His dark hair, with navy blue highlights, hung loosely around his shoulders, and he preferred it that way, because it covered a series of pale patches that started on his neck and trailed onto the top of his left arm. Vitiligo, Scorpius remembers as he surveys his friend then looks back at the boy's face and blinks slowly. The darker boy shrugs in response before crouching down to peek into his empty trunk.

"Why aren't you trying to hang out with Olivia again?" the boy says on the floor now, searching under his bed for whatever he had come back to the room for in the first place. Some of the kids were throwing a party before they left the next day for summer hols. Scorpius couldn't be bothered. He mouths the words purposefully and is able to accio a sheet of blank parchment. He has started writing and using a spell to read it aloud to his friends. The voice was unnatural but it got the job done.

"She's been teaching me some sign language. Her younger brother's deaf. She keeps wanting to sign with me and talk, but I just want to be alone for a bit. I feel like I'm never alone anymore."

"Dude," says Manny standing up proudly and brushing off a smuggled bottle of fire whiskey for the party. His glasses are crooked and Scorpius snorts. "Even when you can't talk, you talk a lot." The blonde playfully throws a pillow at him before they both laugh good naturedly. He turns around with a goofy lopsided grin once he gets to the door. "I'll tell her you're sleeping or something and make sure no one else lets her in."

Scorpius flops backwards onto the bed, just for a moment, before forcing himself up to finish packing.

 

**\--:--**

 

Harry is standing in front of his fifth year class discussing how he learned the importance of wand care when it comes to performing protection spells. Any speck of dust or grime or residue from a previous spell could completely change your simple protego into a death trap. He hears a gurgle and freezes. When he hears it again he sighs and looks up to find Teddy watching him raptly with a smile smile on his face. The ravenette nods and Teddy is bursting from his seat, excited to be able to hold even one of his little sisters. His hair is flying through the colors of the rainbow when he comes back carrying Anita Lily.

 

"Lyra's still asleep," he says with a pout and Harry can't help but laugh.

 

"You have all summer, Ted," his dad reminds him, taking the bouncing 6 month old bundle from his arms and earning a gummy grin. The class laughs and he transfigures his desk chair into a walker for the girl to bounce around in. The ravenette teaches the rest of the lesson with a gurgling baby giggling in the audience. He laughs to himself when he looks back and realizes it looks like she is really attempting to listen to the rest of his lecture. He dismisses the class early after that. He's their last class of the day and even he is ready for summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope the potion thing makes sense.  
> basically draco created a potion so scorp wouldn't be affected by the full scope of all his things (depression, anxiety, foa, ADD, stuttering), but scorp has been taking it for so long he never knew his dad was the one who invented it & assumed it was only for the ADD and stuttering so he didn't think they are doing anything and slowly stopped taking them (which is one reason why he's been having so many breakdowns and anger episodes in succession)also teen rebellion. also too sad and his antidepressants need to be a tiny bit adjusted and everything just needs to be fine tuned again because he's older.
> 
> blehh maybe it didn't make sense


	31. -epilogue-

Scorpius walked towards the train with his head down. His black sweater vest was crooked over his pale blue button up and his robes were tossed across his arm haphazardly. He didn't know what had gotten into him. He reached a hand up and rubbed at his temples. Going off of his potions were tiring. Be felt like a completely different person now that he had started taking them again and he felt embarrassed. His father couldn't even look at him these last few weeks. He gets on the train and finds a seat as if he were on autopilot. He lays his head against the window and only looks up when the compartment door opens and Teddy comes in holding on to Elle's hand he forces a smile on to his face before looking out the window again. Teddy sat across from him and reached over to pat his shoulder.

"It's summer, Scorp!" he said excitedly and when the boy looked up to find his brother sporting a elephant trunk with donkey ears and Weasley brand ginger hair he couldn't help but burst into silent laughter.

 

**\--:--**

 

"Tell me again, why I told your daddy he could go out with your Uncle Blaise," Harry says, cooing at the girls who were crawling around their nursery in the new play gate, he had spent their nap time putting together.

 

"Bah-bah, bah-bah..." babbled Anita pushing herself into a sitting position. Lyra bobbed her head, before babbling along with her.

 

"Yeah," Harry said nodding as if he understood. "You're right. He deserves a break with his friends."

 

"Da-da, dadadadada..." Lyra says this time.

 

"You're right too, love. Papa deserves a break, don't I?"

 

Draco leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed and a content smile on his face. He stepped into the room and gracefully slid onto the floor beside his husband, sitting with his legs to the side and laying his head on Harry's shoulder.

"I was only gone for an hour, Potter," the blonde says and Harrh can hear the smile in his voice.

 

"How was Blaise?"

 

"Same as always."

 

"Handsome and considerate?" asks Blaise walking into the room. His fresh locs were pinned into a ponytail, showing off the array of tasteful earrings.

 

"I was going to say a selfish prat, but-" Draco lifted one shoulder and waved his hand flippantly.

 

"Who says I can't be all of that?" he asked with a smile and raised eyebrow. "Don't you all just look incredibly domestic," he said still smiling.

 

"Thank you for getting him home in one piece, Blaise," said the ravenette still on the floor. "Did you guys have a nice time?"

 

"He only takes me out to muggle bars so when people come hit on me he can say I'm married and pick them up," Draco says into his husband's shoulder.

 

"I'm actually not surprised," Harry snorts. He notices the other man staring somewhat wistfully towards tge girls and nudges Draco imperceptibly. The blonde blinks up at him and nods. "Uh- Blaise?"

 

"Potter?"

 

"Would you like to hold one of the girls?"

 

The darker man's face looked thrilled for a second before he completely closed it off, back into a calm and collected mask, Harry had almost always known. He shook his head quickly before looking away.

"I'm not much of a children-man, Potter. Thank you for the offer though." He nodded at them both. "Draco, we should really do this again. I'll let myself out."

 

He gave one last look over at the twins and gave them a goofy yet sad grin when he didn't think the other men were watching and left. Harry waited until he felt the wards shift to let the man out before he lifted his shoulder and forced the blonde off of him.

"That wasn't rude at all," he says propping himself up with his arms behind him.

 

"Blaise loves children," Harry says ignoring his husband's comments.

 

"Babies make him uncomfortable," said Draco shrugging and standing up to dust his pants off.

 

"Since when," Harry said remembering more than once when Blaise had stopped by and practically begged to help out over Christmas hols when Harry was pregnant and tired all the time.

 

"Since his pregnant fiancé died," Draco snapped. There was a heavy sigh before he forced out a quiet explanation. "He got engaged to some girl he had gotten pregnant, right after graduation. She died from an extreme splinching. They couldn't save-" He glanced over at his girls and walked out of the room. Harry's mouth fell open and he ran to follow his husband but Lyra started crying.

 

"Teddy!" Harry called lifting his youngest daughter and going to follow his husband. "Come watch your sister! Draco is trying to make another dramatic exit!"

 

Teddy ran in laughing, before sliding across the floor and lifting up Anita. "You aren't leaving us behind, we want to see this. Dad makes the _best_ exits!"

 

They made there way downstairs but before they could, someone outside began frantically banging on the front door of the manor. Harry looked at Teddy who shook his head then Scorpius whose footsteps he could hear on the upper floor before his blond head peeked over the stair railing at them.

Draco, who hadn't quite gotten around to make his exit looked back to Harry who only shrugged.

 

"All of you," the blonde said. "Are useless."

 

The knocking continued and no one moved. Sure, a house elf would have answered the door. There was one sitting near it angrily bunching the hem of his pillowcase outfit and staring at Draco. He had told them not to answer it unlesss everyone in the house was occupied, but since they were all clearly there- The elf practically fainted when the knocking went off again, this time a little less sure.

"Maybe Zabini came back..." Harry ventures.

 

"Blaise doesn't knock," Draco says fondly.

 

"Then- uh-"

 

"Potter, no one we know _knocks_ on the bloody door. They floo or they just come in."

 

" _Ron_ knocked," Harry said, but he knew that was a special circumstance and even if it hadn't been, he had locked the floo to avoid another argument with his husband so anyone would have had to knock. The floo was open now, though. Wasn't it?

"Weasley is a special case and you had blocked the sodding floo!" He insisted. "No one _knocks_!"

 

"Strangers knock," Teddy puts in.

 

"Exactly!" Draco said as if that proved his point. " _Strangers knock_. **I** don't know any strangers."

 

" _No one_ knows any strangers, ya loon," said the messy haired ravenette with his curiosity fully peaked. "That's why they're strangers. Just open the bloody door."

 

The next time it knocks, Draco opens it looking bored as he stares at a man who isn't quite as tall as him, but makes up for it in sheer size. He isn't huge, but muscular, while also being rounder in the middle. His beady blue eyes look nervous and he's gripping what looks like a sheet of paper in his left hand. Beside him stands a short, thin, pale woman with long brown hair, brown eyes, and no makeup on a fairly flawless face. Between them stood a nervous looking girl, also thin and pale, but with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"May I help you?" He drawls just as uninterested as the rest of his stance suggests.

 

"I- uh- I'm sorry. I must have the wrong address," the bigger man said nervously, checking a note he scribbled on the back of what Draco can now see is a Hogwarts envelope.

 

"Yes. Probably," Draco said with a raised eyebrow. "Who are you looking for?"

 

"Uh- Harry Po-" started the man, but he didn't get a chance to finish before there were babbles, coos and footsteps behind Draco.

 

"Draco, who the bloody hell was-" Harry stops midsentence, making his way down the rest of the stairs holding Lyra, babbling on his hip. "Dudley?"

 

"I need your help," says the beefier man at the door without much preamble. Draco guesses his name must be Dudley, but he's confused as to why that name sounds so sodding familiar.

 

"Yeah, okay," says Harry looking down and smiling at the little girl picking at the hem of her dress in front of her mother and father. He adjusts his own daughter on his hip, before backing up into the foyer with his husband. "Come on in."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you do know this is going to be a trilogy, right?


End file.
